


Found a Place for Home

by JustaTry



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Bisexual Character, Friendship is strong in this one, M/M, OC, Possible OOC-ness, Tendou-centric, This is not beta-read so far, Written For Fun, a lot of teasing between friends, attempt at fluff, though I did my best to avoid it, time is passing fast in this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-07-02
Packaged: 2018-05-27 11:11:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 26,482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6282310
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustaTry/pseuds/JustaTry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small story of Tendou discovering his love for volleyball, finding a team that accepts him the way he is and falling in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So I really love Haikyuu and I have been itching to write a story for this amazing fandom for a while now and I always quit halfway through because I think I'm in no way good enough and I can't capture characters and keep them IN character. And then this little baby happened (planned as a one shot and turned into a short story) and I just had a ton of fun writing it and I thought: You know what, I'm going to go out on a limb and post it and hope someone enjoys reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. I maybe should also mention that it's already finished and I'll post the chapters as I edit them. And yeah, the summary isn't exactly the best.
> 
> So, saying this: I do hope you enjoy this story! =) (though you should be warned that it isn't beta-red so far)

Tendou already knew as a kid that he didn’t fit in – at least not easily. He also didn’t really care about it. He had is childhood friend Kenji that lived in the house across the street and honestly, that was enough.

And while other kids played with dolls and other toys and still dragged their stuffed animals around, Tendou, by sheer chance, discovered volleyball. He was barely a little over five and a half years old and saw a couple of teenagers playing in a nearby park.

He felt interested and watched them for a little bit. He kept thinking that he wanted try playing it too all the way back to his home. On his sixth birthday and before he started elementary school, his grandparents gave him a volleyball as a present. Of course, back then, he had no idea how to play properly so he just slapped the ball around a couple of days before letting it roll under his bed when school started.

School wasn’t exactly easy. One of the reasons he didn’t fit in was that Tendou didn’t care about his appearance and since both his parents couldn’t cut hair to save their lives, he always allowed his grandma to take care of his hairdo.

Another reason was that, apparently, other children found him scary – even if he didn’t quite get why, he thought he was a pretty nice kid most of the time.

Most of the first half of his first year of elementary school, Tendou just kind of maneuvered through the school subjects and met up with his childhood friend for lunch breaks. Then he discovered the volleyball club. Again, even though the children barely had enough skills to get the balls over the net, he thought that he wanted to play, his eyes following the ball’s course.

He knew he had good reflexes, he was fast and he had a good consciousness of his body. Besides, he was pretty smart when he wanted to be.

The other boys rejected him when he tried to join them. It was the first time he was called a monster to his face – and somewhat floored by it, what had that to do with him wanting to join the club?

After that, he wondered if volleyball might not be stupid after all, but at the same day he was turned down by the other children, he fished his ball out from under his bed. Kenji, kind kid that he was, offered to play with him, stating that they didn’t need the others to have fun.

In the beginning, they had no clue what the rules where and what to do, so they asked their parents and spanned a simple rope between two trees in Kenji’s garden.

When they started to play, Kenji quickly took to setting, though he more often than not missed the ball and almost hit himself in the face with it. Tendou himself slipped a couple of times when he tried to spike or block and soon his knees were scraped from when he had thrown himself to the ground in order to catch the ball. At some point, his band-aids got band-aids and his parents bought him kneepads, which made things a lot easier.

They had fun, they laughed, and they got muddy after rainy days and sometimes spiked the ball against a house wall just to see how far they could make it bounce back. They also got good at climbing, since they managed to hit the ball into one of the trees more than once.

Still, Tendou found himself walking by the gym a few times over the following weeks, staring at the volleyball practice. He still wanted to play. He wanted to join. The other kids still didn’t want him around.

“Why don’t you try talking to a teacher?” Kenji asked one afternoon, eyes on the ball he managed to set up, watching Tendou jump and smack his hand against it. It barely went over the rope without touching it, but they still grinned at each other in triumph, before Tendou went to pick up the ball again.

For a moment, he stared at it, brushing a speck of dirt from it. Then he looked at his friend. “I want to show them I’m good, I want to...” He frowned slightly. “I don’t want them to refuse me again.”

Kenji paused, and then smiled, taking the ball from him. “Then go and make a bet or something. I’m sure you can do it. And if not, we can still play here.”

Tendou thought it over, before grinning and smacking his friend on the back. “You’re pretty great, you know?”

Kenji just chuckled, awkwardly scratching his neck. “Thanks, you too. And you’re really cool when you go all kabam when you manage to block a ball!”

Their excitement rose as they started to play again, though at that night after dinner, Tendou was lying awake and thought everything over.

The next school day, he did like his friend suggested. He stood as tall as he could in the gym, ignoring the whispers of the other kids.

The captain of the team smirked at him. “Sure, if you can to block me, you can join.” He said it haughtily, like Tendou wouldn’t stand a chance against him.

When they played, a team of three against one, Tendou managed to block him and the other kid stared up at him with that angry and shocked expression.

Just hitting the ball wasn’t enough anymore after that, not after that view.

 

~*~

 

When Middle School rolled around, Tendou hadn’t stopped playing volleyball. By now his parents had bought him everything he needed and his grandma still cut his hair –though now she did it differently when he asked. He started to style his hair, at first mainly because it was in the way while playing and then later because he liked his hair spiky.

Tendou still didn’t get along with the other kids, even in his new school. They found him scary, especially when he played. Kenji was his friend though, even if they were in different classes, so Tendou didn’t really think much of the others.

In Middle School, they had a better coach than back in Elementary School. She scolded them for any mistakes they made and supported them in the areas they were good at. They didn’t have all that many players and Tendou was only growing stronger, getting better, until by the second year, he started to become part of the players on court.

His coach became even stricter, trying to get him to play less by his gut feeling. Tendou couldn’t exactly follow that, he wanted to have fun, he trusted his instincts, and he scored points with his blocking so he didn’t really see the point in changing course when it wasn’t necessary. His coach and he butted heads more often than once or twice, holding up practice.

He went to his first real tournament during the spring of his second year. Despite being a generally good team, they lost in their second round. It was more than frustrating and it hurt more than Tendou ever expected. Kenji, who had come to watch the match, just treated him to some ice cream and sat beside him on a park bench, quietly bumping their shoulders together.

“You played well.” His friend said after a few moments.

“I know.” Tendou stared at the treat in his hands. “We still lost.” He frowned, wondering how he could put everything in him into words. In the end, he settled for something simple. “We won’t lose again next year. I don’t want to lose again.”

Kenji just smiled, biting into his chocolate. “Well, I’m going to cheer you on again then.” He said after swallowing.

They went back to Kenji’s home after that, playing the volleyball back and forth over the rope that was still hanging between the trees. By evening, Tendou felt better, less unraveled and restless.

The next day, he was the first who showed up for practice and he made sure that he had as much fun as possible while playing, no matter what his coach said.

 

~*~

 

His third year was just as difficult as all the years before. He trained hard, doing his best and working on his blocking and receiving skills, watching the other players intently. It made a lot of his teammates even more uncomfortable at first, but Tendou got better in what he did so they got somewhat used to it.

His hands showed more calluses the more months passed and he kept his grades good enough during the Inter High – where they lost in their third match – so that when the year ended, he could get into the Junior High School that he wanted.

Kenji, who never had any trouble with studying, got into the same school. Tendou had immediately joined the volleyball club, though he was once again at odds with most of his teammates. His coach wasn’t exactly happy with his playing style either, however, by now Tendou was used to that and just brushed the comments off. He wanted to have fun more than anything after all.

The year started well enough, until just a month before the Inter High, his friend had to move. Kenji’s parents got a job offer in Tokyo and they couldn’t stay in Miyagi. When Kenji told him that, Tendou looked at his friend and tilted his head. He couldn’t imagine not having Kenji around, who had stuck to Tendou even though everyone else always called him ‘scary’, who was never bothered if he couldn’t guess what his friend was thinking. It didn’t quite feel real, to think that his friend would be gone at the end of the month.

“Then how about we win the Inter High and go to Tokyo? I could see you again then, what do you say?” Tendou found himself saying after a small stretch of silence and rapid thinking on his part.

Kenji just hugged him and he stuck around a lot more after that, dropping by before practice or staying around afterwards so they could watch a movie at one of their houses. Both of them ignored the days ticking by.

Still, on the day he left, Tendou felt how some tears escaped both of them and his friend promised with watery eyes that he would write him so much that Tendou would get annoyed by him. They exchanged one last smile, before Kenji and his family drove off.

Reality truly only settled in at the next day, when Tendou sat alone at school, staring at his lunch. He threw himself even more into volleyball for a couple of days, maybe even a week or two, until the odd silence around him seemed to lessen – or he got used to it, however one wanted to see it.

Inter High rolled around quickly after that, with Tendou and Kenji writing back and forth and they made it to the semi-finals before losing to Kitagawa Daiichi.

However, they all made sure that Kitagawa had to work for it. Tendou had fun during the match, he enjoyed riling up opponents and nothing was more satisfying than blocking a player who was confident in his spike. And it was sort of thrilling, going up against older and more experienced players, testing out his skills and learning where he still lacked training.

So when the final whistle blew and he stared at the points, declaring Kitagawa Daiichi the winner, it felt like the floor just sagged away for a second. He had wanted to win. He still wanted to play. Tokyo had been in the back of his head whenever he didn’t have to concentrate on the game. He was silent, when he shook his opponent’s hands, leaving the court while staring at the floor.

Afterwards he sat outside, staring up at the sky. For a moment he replayed the game they lost before he took his phone out, slowly typing a message to Kenji. Tokyo was off the table for now.

When the other matches resumed, he slunk back inside to watch them, vowing to study the other players and their movements, learning tells and reading their body language. The next time someone had to play against him, they would have to work even harder to get the ball past him. The next time, they surely would go to nationals.

 

~*~

 

By his second year in Junior High, Tendou was loosely friends with a classmate and a teammate from the volleyball club. They sat together during lunch and they shared Tendou’s rising enthusiasm for movies and pretty actors.

Once though, when he brought up that he thought the newest main actor for a drama – a tall guy with the nicest voice he had heard so far – looked pretty good, they just looked at him weirdly for a moment, before brushing it off as Tendou being Tendou.

It got him thinking though and shortly afterwards he realized that he didn’t only look at girls. Two guys caught his attention as well. The guy in his chemistry class that smelled nice and the guy that sat beside him in math and who Tendou just couldn’t completely ignore even when he tried.

It took him a little bit to understand what was going on and he only really got it when he got a crush on a guy for the first time. It was a small thing and he was anything but keen on acting up on it, but he still found himself looking for the boy from the other second year class. They had exchanged greetings and a few words a couple of times, they had gym together every week and Tendou always noticed new things about him.

How he brushed his hair back from his forehead and that when he laughed, he showed his teeth, how he scratched his wrist when he got nervous and that he was pretty friendly with almost everyone.

Denial got him only so far at first and Tendou started to avoid the other boy until he could feel his crush waning again. Still, he was somewhat confused when the girl in his English class talked to him and he felt his neck heat up.

He thought that maybe, this was just a phase, that it would be over soon. That his feelings would return to how everyone else’s was. Just normal and nothing this confusing.

At first, he didn’t mention it in his letters and text messages to Kenji, or during their phone calls at the weekend. Instead he focused on volleyball and his grades, training and honing his skills and keeping up with the pile of homework their teachers loved to dump on them.

He shoved his thoughts away, his confusion not stopping when he realized that he still found the actor in the drama attractive and that he still liked his voice a lot.

Afterwards he just paid attention to his fellow students a lot, realizing that really, most of them didn’t give him a case of skipping heart beats or warmth all over his chest or neck. At first, it confused him even more, until he thought that, okay, it made sense that he didn’t like or fall for everyone that crossed his path. No one did that. It still didn’t really clear up anything.

He worked around his confusion until the Inter High took place and they played against Shiratorizawa Junior High. Until then, Tendou had never encountered a guy whose spike he couldn’t take on, a player he couldn’t shut down completely at some point. Ushijima was the greatest challenge he ever got up against. It was intense, it was fun and he felt amazed by the raw power and skills that his opponent displayed.

The whole time he played, he felt like he was on a high, his senses felt sharper than ever before and it felt like before this moment, he had never hit his groove quite like this. He barely felt the sting of the ball against his hands when he blocked, keeping his eyes on his opponents and their body language, trusting his instincts and following them.

When they lost, he didn’t even really notice it at first, he was still too hyped. After shaking their opponent’s hands and bowing to the referee, he looked over his shoulder while leaving the court.

He watched the Shiratorizawa team stand around the bench, towels and water bottles in their hands. He wanted to play against them again. He wondered what it would be like to be on a team with players like that. He wanted to have that much fun again.

When he came home that evening, he grabbed his phone, stared at it for a long while and then flipped it open, calling his childhood friend.

“Satori, hi! How was the game? Are you guys coming to Tokyo?” Kenji sounded curious and excited.

Before Tendou could stop himself, a short laugh escaped him and he fell backwards onto his bed before he covered his eyes with his free hand. “No, we won’t. Not with a team like Shiratorizawa as our opponents.” He moved his hand through his hair, staring up at the ceiling. “They were amazing.”

“Oh, I’m sorry you lost.” Kenji sounded sad for him and Tendou wondered for a moment why he didn’t feel as disappointed, frustrated and restless as he usually felt after a defeat. His thoughts wandered back to Shiratorizawa’s Junior High team and then to Ushijima. Even now he felt…amazed.

“I think I like boys.” He found himself blurting out, the words leaving his somewhat thoughtless mind. It felt odd saying them, especially since he hadn’t exactly said it to himself yet. “And girls. It’s weird, really.”

Kenji was quiet for a moment. “Oh, okay.” He said, sounding confused and hesitant. “Does that change anything?”

And Tendou felt like laughing again, because he hadn’t thought about it that way yet. And it didn’t change him, if he was honest with himself. He still wanted to have fun while playing, he still let his grandma cut his hair and he still watched scary movies he wasn’t supposed to watch whenever his parents weren’t at home in the evening.

He still was lazy when writing letters and he loved volleyball and his weekly dramas. It didn’t change him and even if it changed something about him, he was still the same guy that grew up playing with action figures and volleyballs and who hadn’t managed to throw away his favorite stuffed toy yet. Huh.

“No, I guess it doesn’t.” He said, blinking up at the ceiling. Kenji would be the only one knowing about his secret though. He didn’t feel like sharing it with anyone else. It felt too…private.

“Well then.” Something rustled on the other side, as if Kenji was pushing papers away. Then he cleared his throat. “Bisexuality is, uh, a thing, you know? I mean, if you are. It’s totally fine.”

Tendou thought about it for a moment and yeah, okay, that made a lot of sense. His confusion wasn’t quite cleared yet, but he finally understood it and he would research it later. A smile found its way on his face. “You’re still great Kenji.”

A snicker came from his friend, though it was shortly broken by static. “I know. Now, tell me about that match if you want to.”

It was the first time ever since that he had mentioned the actor at school, that Tendou allowed himself to talk excitedly about another guy.

 

~*~

 

After the Inter High life resumed like before. School sucked him up in studying for tests and their coach worked them as hard as before, using their frustration about their loss to get them through some grueling exercises.

The third years retired shortly after and Tendou found himself with a few new starting players. Their dynamics shifted again, their team captain changed and they spent the next weeks working on their team play.

At some point before the Spring High, they had a training camp with another school and one evening, when the boys talked about crushes over dinner, Tendou carefully kept any and all thoughts about boys away, only chipping in when they talked about pretty actresses and models.

Training camp was extra fun to him – not so much for his opponents, who found his way of blocking endlessly annoying – but it was also a lot of hard work. The muscle ache he carried home hadn’t been this bad in a long while.

The next weeks passed quickly, almost too quickly for him before they moved to their first match for the Spring High tournaments. Waiting in the hall where a lot of teams gathered before their matches, Tendou took a moment to look around, noticing old enemies and new players.

He saw Kitagawa Daiichi and Shiratorizawa Junior High, the ones they hadn’t managed to beat so far. He turned their back to them, keeping down his excitement a little while stretching and warming up.

They made it past three schools before they were up against Kitagawa Daiichi. They played with the sort of ferocity known only to those who had lost against the same opponent before. Tendou especially went all out, going toe to toe with everyone, taking advantage of very weakness he saw.

They lost, and for some reason, no other loss before had ever felt this despairing and frustrating to Tendou. The whole team was quiet when they left the court, darkly staring ahead.

Despite being exhausted, Tendou and the teammate he befriended stuck around after the match, watching the other teams play.

In the end, the Spring Tournament was over in a matter of days with Shiratorizawa Junior High going to nationals.

School returned to normal and when Tendou called Kenji to tell him the result of the match, his friend laughed and said he had saved some money for a train ticket and that he would come back to Miyagi during the summer, staying at his grandparents’ house.

It was something to look forward to, now that the volleyball club took a backburner for a couple of weeks so that the students could focus on their tests.

 

~*~

 

Summer came quickly, with Kenji visiting and Tendou spend a lot of time with his childhood friend. They put up the rope again, playing the volleyball back and forth. Kenji wasn’t much of a challenge, since he preferred to play soccer ever since going to Tokyo, but it was fun and they both dissolved into snorting laugher when they managed to slam the ball against the house wall hard enough to bounce back against their heads with too much speed, only Tendou’s reflexes saving them from getting smacked in the face.

Kenji told him about Tokyo, showing him pictures and told him about the girl he had a crush on – while blushing badly enough that Tendou just had to tease him about it, which made his friend’s blush only worse.

“Shut up!” Kenji yelled, red faced but grinning, shoving him and making him snicker. “What about you? Anyone you like?” His friend asked, desperate to change the subject.

Tendou just shrugged. “Nothing serious or anything. A few pretty people here and there, but I haven’t really thought much about it since it never led to anything or turned into a crush.”

Kenji just hummed and shortly afterwards they left to get some ice-cream from the convenience-store.

They spend a few days roaming the streets around their neighborhood, finding an old tree they had once tried to carve their names into when they were six, only to feel sorry for the tree when a drop of tree gum had showed up.

In the end, summer passed as quickly as it came and school started again. Tendou’s parents had a talk with him about which High School he should go to – or which one he wanted to go to. It got him thinking, since he had tried to put making any decisions off as much as possible.

Practice started up again, with the coach gleefully pouncing on anyone who slacked off during the summer break, working them to the bone to get them back into shape. They also got a few new first years joining them and Tendou snickered with the other third years about their terrified expressions – and later on over how frustrated they got when playing against Tendou’s blocks.

A routine settled in and aside from studying and practicing, Tendou tried to keep his romantic interests in other people strictly to actors and models. He didn’t need the distraction of crushing on a classmate or anyone else he knew – even if that girl in homeroom had soft looking hair and the prettiest lips ever.

Two months before the Inter High, Tendou talked to a guy in the library, a very random conversation that started out over a book and turned into excitement over their shared, favorite drama. And when Tendou managed to make the other boy laugh with an offhanded comment, he felt warmth spread across his cheeks and he had to reel his mind away.

He didn’t exactly avoid the library when the other boy was there but he didn’t seek him out either and the hint of a warm feeling soon disappeared again, leaving nothing but memories behind. And like usually, no one noticed that Tendou got a faster beating heart about someone of the same gender.

Sometimes he wondered why he wanted no one to know. It wasn’t exactly like he was a popular guy – he barely had two friends – and he never cared what other people said about him. If he had, he probably never had started to play volleyball in elementary school.

Maybe it was because Tendou hadn’t really met a guy or a girl before that he liked enough that he really wanted to get to know them. He was interested in some people, he didn’t deny that, but after his first real crush he didn’t really feel anything like that for someone else again.

Maybe it was because he had wanted at least some part of him to be normal, something he could have that just simply fit in.

He brought that subject up with Kenji once, who actually managed to pull off a long rant about accepting himself the way he was and that he was okay just like that – he didn’t have to change for anyone. It set some part of him right again, even if a little voice in his head still whispered that it was weird, that it wasn’t normal. He countered that voice with the fact that he never had been normal, not once while growing up. At least, he thought, he was anything but boring.

Soon he had other worries anyway, when the Inter High came and he was back on court, back to playing against strong opponents. And really, none of the other schools had slacked off. In the game he watched where Kitagawa Daiichi played against another school, he whistled lowly under his breath when he watched Oikawa play. The setter was a monster, the sort of player that was as sharp as a blade and quick to turn any small opening or bumbling into a grave mistake.

Tendou’s team steadily advanced until they came up to Shiratorizawa again. While some of his teammates felt nervous and afraid, Tendou couldn’t look away from their opponents. It was only then that he realized he had itched to play against them again.

It was as amazing as it was the first time. Ushijima had grown even stronger and Tendou felt his hands burning by the end of the first set, ticked off that he couldn’t shut down the guy even when he managed to touch his spike and at the same time he felt incredibly thrilled, he could barely wait to continue.

They lost the second set just like they had lost the first one and this time, Tendou wasn’t riding the exciting high of going all out against the sort of amazing strength from someone else he hadn’t encountered before. When they left the court, he felt the burn of tears and kept his head high, swallowing and fighting them back.

On the ride home, he stared at his hands and for the first time, he realized that there could be other players out there, as strong as Ushijima, as skilled as Oikawa. Players that could give him the thrill he wanted when he played against them.

But volleyball was a team sport and he alone could never hope to be strong enough to bring a whole team to the nationals. He needed a team with players that were at least just as strong so that they could go past Miyagi together.

When he received the offers for a scholarship from a couple of schools after the Inter High, he stared at them and then picked the one he couldn’t take his eyes off.

The very same day, he took up the scholarship offer from Shiratorizawa.


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, since it's the weekend, here is the next chapter! =) I hope you'll like it! And if you find any mistakes or passages that don't make sense, feel free to tell me. I also couldn't find the name of the other coach from Shiratorizawa, though I searched a while and I just gave him a name myself, though if one of you know what he's called, feel free to tell me.
> 
> Enjoy! =)

The first day at Shiratorizawa Academy Tendou actually had to be careful not to get lost. The compound was huge. They actually had real, frigging horses and he couldn’t help but stop and stare at them for a moment – yes, he read every article and information about the school before coming so he knew about the horses, but it was something completely different to actually see it.

Eventually he found his way to the black board and searched for his name on the class sheets. Once he found it, he didn’t really bother with reading the other names from the people in his class – he probably wouldn’t know anyone anyway – and he made his way into the building.

Today they wouldn’t have any real lessons, just the opening ceremony and then two homeroom classes to get introduced to everything and the teaching system.

Tendou was adequately surprised, when he realized that he was in the same class as Ushijima after entering the classroom once the opening ceremony was over. When they were all allowed to pick their seats on their own – at least for the first day – he just simply plopped down in the seat beside the other player.

They didn’t talk, barely exchanged an acknowledging nod, before they focused on their homeroom teacher.

Time passed quickly and afterwards Tendou made his way to the teachers’ office, turning in his scholarship documents. The coach took him aside to talk to him once he looked at the papers.

“I saw you playing.” He started without much preamble. “I want to know what motivates you personally to play for us.”

That one was easy, it was something Tendou hadn’t budged from ever since Middle School. He wouldn’t change it now either, not even for this powerhouse of a school. “I want to play volleyball that makes me happy.”

The coach stared at him, hard and serious. Tendou held his gaze, ready to get rebuffed like before.

Finally, the man spoke again. “As long as you score, I have no objections.”

That caught him off guard enough that the surprise showed on his face. The coach already moved on, checking his admission for the volleyball club to make sure Tendou hadn’t overlooked things he was supposed to fill out.

By the time he left the office again, Tendou still felt like he was slightly reeling. He walked down the corridor and only then did he feel like he arrived in reality. The coach had accepted him and his motivation.

A grin spread over his face and he couldn’t resist a small jump, though no one had seen it, so it was fine. He could play volleyball however he wanted. He could have fun without getting nagged at.

He was free to play to his heart’s content as long as he scored. And boy, he would make sure he scored like hell with his blocks. It was something he was good at.

~*~

For the first time ever since Elementary School, Tendou felt a little nervous entering a gym. Everything about this school was huge, the gym as well. The upperclassmen were there already and worked through their routine, warming up and pitching balls to each other. Shoe’s squeaked and shouts traveled through the gym, followed by the smack of a ball against palms.

The first years were easy to pick out, since they all stood around to the side and Tendou went over to join them – though as far as Tendou knew, he and most the other first years were either the ones from Shiratorizawa junior or here on scholarships. They would be tested and evaluated first.

“Hi.” The guy beside him said once he stood with the others, giving him a polite nod. They were about the same height and his hair was black. He was familiar though and Tendou needed a moment to recognize him. He didn’t remember his name and back then the boy had had lighter hair – he must have died his hair – but he was a damn good setter.

“Hi.” Tendou gave him a short wave. “You’re playing for the setter position right? I saw you play in the past.” He said, unwilling to stand around in odd silence and stewing in his suppressed nerves. “I’m Tendou Satori, by the way.”

The other boy turned a bit more towards him, clearly willing to talk as well. “My name is Semi Eita, and yes, I’m a setter. You?”

“Middle Blocker.” Tendou stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jacket, ignoring that his fingers felt sort of cool. He shifted a little on his feet, his eyes following the path of a ball.

“Nervous?” Semi asked, and Tendou gave a mix between a shrug and a nod. The other boy was quiet for a moment. “I am too.”

“Who wouldn’t be?” Tendou found himself mumbling. “This school is big enough to swallow you up.”

That caused Semi to smile, before he pointed to the side. “He doesn’t look bothered.”

Tendou leaned forward, looking past the row of first years to spot Ushijima standing stoically among them. Of course.

“He looks really focused.” Tendou observed and Ushijima looked at him for a moment, almost as if he had heard him, before he looked away again.

Tendou watched him for a moment, and then the murmuring and quietly chattering first years, before he raised an eyebrow. “No one is talking to him.”

Semi gave a half shrug. “Does it surprise you? He doesn’t look very approachable. I played twice against him in Junior High. It was intense.”

Tendou just hummed, but straightened when the coach walked over to them, the second coach at his side. They took a few minutes to check if all the first years were there, before coach Washijou cleared his throat. “Alright, listen up. This is Himura-sensei, he will be evaluating you first years. If you want to move up to the second or even first string, he will be the one who will tell me about whether or not you’re good enough.” He nodded at the other coach to take over.

Himura took a step forward, body language clear cut and when he spoke, it was straight to the point. “We’ll start with your stamina and body strength and work our way to your skills and technique. We begin with warming up, you have ten minutes.”

The first years broke out into a busy hustle to follow the instructions. Tendou was already blocking out the other sounds in the gym, until Himura blew his whistle and they all went to run laps.

Afterwards they had to partner up and to start with the basics. Tendou and Semi turned to each other at the same time, questioning expressions on their faces. They tossed to each other when the coach wanted them to and afterwards they were divided up into groups to play against each other.

Tendou ended with Semi and Ushijima in the same team, along with a guy that introduced himself as Oohira Reon. During the match, they rotated team members out and others in, so the dynamics kept changing.

Playing with Ushijima turned out to be completely different than playing against him. For the first time, Tendou saw the other boy’s form while playing clearly, watching him jump, every single muscle moving smoothly, strength traveling and transforming into a powerful spike.

He thought that he probably would have even more fun on this side of the net with the other player, than when going against him.

~*~

By the end of the first week, Tendou somehow had struck up an unlikely friendship with Semi, who had a dry and sometimes odd sense of humor, but was honestly a kind and respectful guy – and also didn’t mind to be called by his first name after they started hanging out.

They also had their final evaluation by Himura today and Tendou felt just a little more edgy and excited. Today might just decide whether or not he would be stuck on the kiddy bench or if he could move to train with the first and second string.

To no one’s surprise, Ushijima was selected to train with the first string and when Tendou’s and Semi’s names rang out for those who would practice with the second string, they secretly exchanged a very low, hidden high five, standing close enough together. Reon also moved to the second string training.

They weren’t with the first string players yet, but their coach made it clear that with enough training they would move up again.

When they had to partner with someone for warming up before starting with practice, Tendou just went with his gut feeling – when did he not – and turned towards Ushijima.

“Hey, want to be my partner?” He asked, offering the ball he had picked. If the other boy was surprised by his question, he didn’t show it, just nodded.

Tendou quickly noticed that Ushijima was setting the ball a little more relaxed while warming up, preserving his strength for the actual training but paying close attention to his technique.

Training was great that day and Tendou got to know some of the second and third years, which teased them gently, before setting them to work. It was fun. For the first time, Tendou didn’t get yelled at for his way of blocking, instead, he got hints and pointers from the coach on how to improve, what he could try to be better. Even one of the second years showed him a little neat trick for receiving.

At the end of the day, he walked out, practically radiating satisfaction and Semi didn’t even seem bothered by listening to him ramble about how cool this all was.

Once he was home, Tendou wrote a quick text message to Kenji, emoji-ing the hell out of his friend – for one to annoy him, and two, because he was just happy. Practice hadn’t been this fun in a long time.

Kenji, to annoy Tendou back, sent him a message with nothing more than a smiley in it, before responding properly.

Over the next weeks, Tendou found himself more and more excited for practice. It was hard work and the coach pushed them relentlessly, grooming and training them to stand on court as soon as possible and sometimes Tendou felt like he barely made it back home. However, the most important thing that kept flooring him was the support.

Instead of trying to change him and forcing him to do things differently, people let him build upon his talent and skills. They let him trust his instincts, learning to trust him in return and he had never moved freer while playing.

“Good one Tendou!” Reon called out after a successful block.

Tendou grinned at him. “It’s instinct.”

Himura nodded. “Your instincts are good; just make sure your skills and reflexes are up to par with your opponents and what you see.”

Tendou nodded and had to turn around in order to hide the happy smile pulling at his lips, focusing back on playing.

His serves weren’t exactly brilliant, but they got better and better. The calluses on his hands seemed to grow and he had never felt prouder of feeling the muscles on his arms and legs when he checked them out.

Just to be a jerk about it, he took a photo of himself flexing and send it to Kenji, only to get a hairy and muscular leg with a soccer icon under it back in retaliation.

He got closer to Semi too and with him Reon joined their small circle of friendship. They hung out during lunch and sometimes after school to study. It was the first time Tendou found friends aside from Kenji, which genuinely wanted to hang out with him.

During those couple of weeks he also crushed a little on the sweet but confident looking girl from a neighboring class, only to realize that her personality was nothing like her looks and his interest in her slowly faded into nothing. It got him thinking for a couple of days though, if he would ever really fall in love or if he would be too chicken to even allow it to grow into anything. He resolved to think about it again should the situation arise.

One day though he noticed that Ushijima seemed sort of…alone most of the time. It wasn’t like people didn’t like him, most students were just too intimidated to get close to him and the girls that started to fangirl over his skills and looks didn’t dare go closer either.

“Hey.” Nudging Semi and Reon with his elbow while balancing his lunch tray on his hand, Tendou jerked his head in Ushijima’s general direction. “I’m going to sit somewhere different. Want to come along?”

Semi blinked in surprise before he shrugged. “Sure. It’s not like we tied ourselves down to a specific table or anything.”

“I don’t mind either.” Reon said before he calmly looked back at the menu.

“Great. I’m going ahead.” Tendou paid for his lunch, leaving Semi and Reon to pick out what they wanted to eat and went over to Ushijima.

“Hey.” He greeted the other boy, setting down his tray. “Do you mind if my friends and I sit here?”

Ushijima looked up, sweeping a glance over him. “I don’t mind”, he said.

“Great.” Grinning, Tendou flopped down in the chair opposite from the other volleyball player. “I’m Tendou Satori by the way.”

“I know.” Ushijima gave him a polite nod. “We’re in the volleyball club.”

Tendou hadn’t been sure if Ushijima knew his name – his face surely, they had stood too close while warming up for Ushijima to not recognize him without suffering from some sort of selective amnesia – but he was pleasantly surprised. Unscrewing his water, Tendou leaned against the table. “We’re also in the same class. Though you sit at the end of the room and I’m sitting at the opposite end by the windows.”

Ushijima paused, thinking and then his expression cleared slightly. “Yes, I remember now.”

He looked up when Semi and Reon stopped beside the table and after a short exchange of greetings, sat down besides Tendou.

An odd sort of silence settled between them and Tendou had to admit that he wasn’t exactly good at bearing those sorts of quiet moments, where Semi and Reon seemed at a loss for what to say and Ushijima had returned his attention to his food.

So he just started to talk about the first topic that entered his mind. “So, Ushijima, have you seen the new movie ‘Silent Nights’ that aired this week?”

The other player glanced up, swallowing a bite of food. “No, I haven’t.”

“It was really scary.” Tendou continued while picking up his own eating utensils. “And very weird, I didn’t quite get what the movie wanted to play at, but the main actors were really good.”

“Tendou likes movies and dramas.” Reon supplied and Tendou pointed at him.

“Exactly. And this one was good. The actors were pretty too; do you know who Ayase Riko is?” He turned back to Ushijima.

“I don’t.” The other boy continued to eat whenever Tendou talked and uncapped his sports drink after speaking.

“She’s this really petit woman and it’s her third movie already. She also played in ‘Blue Moon’, it’s a series I can recommend if you want to try out something new.” Tendou realized he just kept rambling and that Semi shot him a half amused, half exasperated look.

What surprised him a little though, was that Ushijima actually listened to him. He made no efforts to bring himself into the conversation more than necessary, but he didn’t tune Tendou out either. He just listened and ate. It was sort of nice.

Before Tendou realized it, he had eaten his lunch between speaking pauses and whenever his friends chipped in with something of their own and the school bell rang, indicating that lunch was over.

They stood up and brought their trays back and Semi and Reon excused themselves, since they went to different classes.

“Let’s walk back together.” Tendou simply proposed when he noticed that Ushijima hadn’t walked away with a brisk pace the second he could.

They walked side by side, with Tendou talking about the documentation of wild life he had seen last weekend – and yeah, he did manage to watch quite a bit of TV between homework, studying and volleyball practice.

They only split up to sit down in their respective seats when the teacher came and after the lessons, Tendou found himself walking to volleyball practice with Ushijima.

Other boy was quiet, not talking unless he was asked something or unless he wanted to speak his mind. They joined Semi and Reon for warming up and Tendou couldn’t shake the feeling like maybe, they could all connect together, be more than teammates that trusted the other to score points and only saw eye to eye on court.

~*~

By the end of the week, Tendou had firmly included Ushijima into the circle of people he talked to and Semi and Reon had warmed up to the other boy as well. They sat together during lunch and hung around before practice – and sometimes afterwards, the ace even practiced with them from time to time.

They discovered that Ushijima was incredibly blunt and only ever said what he thought. It was funny and refreshing to Tendou, though he still could ramble away at Ushijima whenever he wanted. He also secretly made it his mission to tickle as much personal information out of the other boy as possible. Tendou wanted to get to know him better.

They had practice after the weekend, when the coach called Ushijima over. Semi glanced over, pausing in his stretching for a moment. “They do that more often now.” He said, nodding to where the other boy talked with the coaches.

“It’s probably because he’s going to play on court.” Reon mused. “Inter High is coming up soon after all.”

Tendou scrunched up his face slightly. Those who played on the court were training even harder than they already did before tournaments. “I don’t want to lose my blocking partner for basic-practice, his spike is mean.”

Reon chuckled, finishing his stretching. “I’ll practice with you as much as you want. And I’m sure if you ask him, Ushijima would keep spiking against you after practice.”

Tendou tilted his head, thinking it over for a moment. “Yeah, I guess. I haven’t thought about that. I’ll ask him if they start to suck him away into their devious training all the time.”

“Well, I’d be willing to be the setter for you.” Semi offered, bending to stretch his legs.

Tendou stared at his friend’s head, before poking the parting in his hair, startling the other boy. “Your hair is starting to grow out a little.”

Straightening, Semi moved a hand over his head, carefully making sure his hair was still in place. “I know.” He shrugged. “I don’t like black as much anymore, so I’m just letting it grow out.”

Tendou snickered. “You’ll look like ink on a paper soon then. Right, Reon?”

Reon smiled. “More like an Oreo.”

Semi rolled his eyes while Tendou had to laugh. They jolted to attention though, when coach Himura blew his whistle. Ushijima returned to them and before they could ask him anything, they had to warm up.

Still, halfway through practice, Ushijima was called over to the coach again, the man advising him on his serve and a few whispers broke out between the other players.

Some of them were envious, others jealous and some admired Ushijima for being this good. Tendou just smirked.

“I’m going to join the first string soon.” He declared.

“You mean we.” Semi said, getting ready to serve with a serious and determined expression. “Don’t even think I don’t have my eyes on getting on the court as well.”

Reon got into position beside Tendou. “Count me in; I’m going to play at nationals.”

And for a second, while a grin spread over his face, Tendou wondered why it hadn’t been this easy to find friends in the past few years. Because those right here? They were cool as heck.

~*~

Inter High came faster than Tendou expected – really, he could swear that he still had a week until then, but suddenly boom, there it was – and he was standing on the side, waving at Ushijima, who sat on the bench bandaging his fingers.

The other boy nodded back and Tendou settled on stretching, wearing his official Shiratorizawa uniform – his grandma had taken a look at it and sighed with relief saying that, thank god, the color didn’t clash with his hair.

Semi and Reon stood beside him, both keeping their eyes on the court. Reon was clearly excited about the match and Semi tried to hide that he felt the same way. Still, all three were in agreement that they would much rather join the players than stand on the side. They were itching to get out on the court.

In the first match, Ushijima didn’t play and they cheered on their upperclassmen, slapping each other on the back when their team won.

In the second match and in the second set, Ushijima was thrown in and Tendou inched forward a bit. It was something completely different to see a friend play than the upperclassmen he barely talked to outside of the club. And if he grinned every time Ushijima scored, well, he just felt oddly proud.

Shiratorizawa steadily advanced and they all celebrated a little on the bus ride back to the school.

The following days of the Inter High very much were like the first one and if Tendou was honest, the only team he held his breath against a little was Aoba Jousai, especially when they substituted their setter halfway through the game so that Oikawa was playing.

Tendou was sure, that as soon as Oikawa was the regular setter, things would get a lot more intense.

When they won the finals, Tendou felt just a little surprised and surreal about it. For years he had tried to get past the semi-finals – at first because he wanted to go to Tokyo, later on because of his ego and because he just wanted to play more, play against other teams.

Sadly, the reality was that only the first string players would go to Tokyo along with a selection of second string players and Tendou whined a little about that when they left the stadium – it wasn’t clear yet which second string players would come along.

Ushijima looked at him, face as serious and honest as always. “Then become a first string player. We’re going to Nationals in spring too.”

He said it as if it was a certainty. Like lungs breathed naturally. Tendou believed him and he knew he would do it. He smiled at his friend, slinging an arm over his shoulder without thinking about it.

“Damn right we are. And I’ll be going with you.”

“As I said, don’t just think you’re going to make it alone.” Semi said, smiling at them. Reon nodded and Tendou let go of Ushijima in favor of playfully and lightly jostling his friends.

“Course, it won’t be fun without you guys.”

The sound of the whistle caused them to look up and they hurried to the bus, especially since tonight their coaches treated them to a victory dinner.

On the way there, Tendou slumped against the window to hide that he wrote a quick message to Kenji. Semi, who sat beside him, noticed what he did and subtly shifted his bag so that his hand was better hidden from the coaches.

Tendou smiled to himself. Somehow this team started to feel like he could belong here. He certainly didn’t feel weird anymore or odd or like the one that didn’t fit in. It didn’t even seem that important that he liked boys too.

Maybe Kenji had just succeeded in getting self-acceptance into his head. Maybe it was because this team had become important to him, started to support him. Volleyball was important to him after all. And it was so much fun.

Putting his phone away, Tendou wondered just how much more fun it would be once he actually played on the court.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, here is the next chapter! I very much hope you enjoy reading it =)
> 
> The warning still stands: This story isn't beta-read so far, so if you find any mistakes that I overlooked, feel free to tell me.

In the end, Tendou was selected to stay behind in Miyagi, along with his friends – they took it in stride, focusing on growing stronger faster.

The nationals came and went, with Shiratorizawa getting far into the top four but not winning the semi finals. When the team returned, Tendou just greeted Ushijima with clasping a hand on his shoulder and a simple “Want to play against me? I got better at blocking.”, and things returned to normal.

The third years retired shortly afterwards and Tendou worked hard, hard enough that he had to bandage some of his fingers. In the end though, it paid off. Semi, Reon and he moved up to the first string. They were very aware that they had to keep the work up and put even more effort into it if they wanted to stay and play on the court.

With the first strings he got to know, another first year that had worked his way up, Yamagata Hayato and Tendou found it was surprisingly easy to talk to the other boy. They both played intensely and with Hayato as a libero, the other boy soon agreed to be a partner for their training against spikes.

Ushijima was staying a regular and when he just nodded and took his place among the first string, Tendou gave him a playful thumps up once the other player looked towards him.

Tendou felt incredibly giddy for making it that far. Not even the grueling studying and tests that followed could really dampen his mood. He organized a group study with his friends, inviting Ushijima along. They met at his house, talking for a little and eating the snacks his mother had bought – and he had just barely averted her greeting his friends personally and happily crooning about how glad she was that her baby boy finally brought friend home again.

They studied for real for a while, though towards the evening, it slowly dissolved into playing games and then watching movies.

“His head is looking exceptionally round, you can’t deny that.” Semi said, critically eyeing the actor on screen.

Tendou snickered, sitting beside Ushijima and almost leaning up against him to ensure that Semi and Reon comfortably fit on the couch with them. His parents had left for a dinner out and the teenagers had settled in front of the TV with some popcorn, watching something they dubbed as the ‘Worst Movies in History of Mankind’.

“Oh god.” Reon groaned. “Please don’t tell me they call that acting nowadays!”

“Wait, it gets worse.” Semi deadpanned, taking a sip from his soda.

“It’s not that horribly bad.” Ushijima said and he had his head tilted just a little to the side, in a gesture Tendou couldn’t help but think of as adorable – and believe him, he tried hard not to think that.

For a second, everyone stared at Ushijima, before Tendou cleared his throat. “My dear friend, I think we have to show you some examples of what acting really looks like.”

“Please don’t put anything in with Ihara Aiko.” Reon said dryly.

Tendou made an offended sound. “Her acting is flawless!”

“It’s over the top.” Semi said while hiding a smile.

Reon wasn’t quite as successful. “And Miya Eri is cuter.”

“You have no taste.” Tendou sniffed, giving up and simply slumping against Ushijima.

The next scene took place and the ace slightly lifted an eyebrow at the actors. “Okay, it’s bad.”

Tendou just nodded, offering some popcorn to Ushijima. He was aware of the heat from the other boy seeping through his clothes but he didn’t pay much attention to it.

The evening passed soon enough and his friends had to leave, though they helped him clean up before they were gone.

They did agree to repeat that and to have another movie evening as well – especially since Ushijima apparently hadn’t seen that many movies so far.

Getting into bed an hour later, Tendou couldn’t help but smile, staring at the uniform he had hanging behind his door and at the volleyball rolled besides his desk.

He fell asleep soon enough.

~*~

Over the next weeks they introduced Ushijima to various things, they learned that the other boy didn’t just watch anything and there were movies he wasn’t interested in at all. They studied a lot and practiced even more.

Tendou, who had thought it would be fun to see if he could keep up with Ushijima while running, was wheezing for air, barely staying at his friend’s heels and even then he started to fall back. He didn’t want to imagine just how much Ushijima had to train in order to be that fast and to run as long as he did with that speed.

Really, in the end, it only served to make Tendou work harder for himself. He felt closer to the team now, being an actual part of the whole set-up and coach Washijou was honestly like a hellhound, pushing them relentlessly.

Over time he also grew closer to Hayato, who was quick on his feet and had no problem speaking his mind. At first it started out slowly, until one day the other player sat with them during lunch and he was officially adopted into Tendou’s circle of friends shortly after that.

The Spring Tournament caught up to them and Tendou just felt very excited about the whole matter. This time, he watched everything while standing with the starting players instead of the bench.

He wasn’t included in most of the matches as a starter, his fingers itching for the feel of the ball against them and he kept his eyes on the players the whole time, his gaze not missing tells and movements and he was focused enough, that his friends just left him to it.

The sets he was thrown into, he played his fullest, relishing in standing in the spotlight.

Shiratorizawa won – of course – and this time Tendou would accompany them to Tokyo. He was excited enough about that, that he texted Kenji while trying to get into his jacket at the same time and he ignored his typos or that he used barely enough emojis to be annoying.

Fumbling to get into the other sleeve of his jacket and sending the message simultaneously, he felt a hand on his shoulder, pulling at his jacket and suddenly his fingers found the sleeve-opening and he could slip in completely. He saw Ushijima lowering his hand when he looked up from his phone, the other boy already dressed and with his bag over his shoulder.

“Thanks.” He said, grinning at his friend before quickly slipping his cell phone into his pocket.

“What got you so excited?” Semi asked, joining them and zipping his jacket closed.

“Tokyo.” Tendou responded with a hum. “I haven’t been there before.”

“Me neither.” Reon said, burying his hands in his pockets. Hayato made an agreeing sound and shouldered his bag.

“It’s big.” Ushijima spoke up, waiting until they were ready to go. “There are a lot of flashing colors and advertisements. People too.”

Tendou grinned, bumping his shoulder slightly against Ushijima’s. “Really? Sounds cool. We’ll see it soon enough though, right?”

His friends hummed an affirmative and they left the stadium, going for dinner with their team. It was a funny affair, a little messy and just a little, tiny bit louder than what was exactly appropriate, but they enjoyed themselves.

Tendou texted back and forth with Kenji, who broke his not-too-many-exclamation-marks-policy to express his excitement, coupled with an unusual display of emojis and a little dancing onion that almost made Tendou spit his drink across the table. Instead he just coughed while trying to laugh and felt Semi’s hand on his back, trying to help.

Wheezing, he finally could breathe again and showed his friends the dancing onion, though only Hayato seemed to really understand just how funny it was.

For the first time Tendou thought that he would like to stop time for a bit, just stay like this, laughing and happy and warm and filled with excitement even if slowly exhaustion started to set in.

In the end, they finished their dinner and parted ways, getting back home. His parents already were waiting at home, congratulating him on going to the Nationals when he told them the good news.

Not even the pile of homework he had to do in the next couple of days could dampen his mood.

~*~

“Oh, we’re reaching Tokyo!” Someone called out through the bus – it sounded like Hayato – and Tendou perked up, looking out of the window – by now one of the window seats was his spot and his friends usually just let him take it before sitting down beside him.

In a about an hour, the nice suburb area they drove through turned into tall buildings, blinking advertisements and company names scrawled across sky scrapers in huge letters. They soon turned away from the business street and pulled to a stop in front of a hotel, the boys piling out of the bus.

Tendou looked around while following the others into the building. So far Tokyo was a frigging load of concrete and a lot of noise. He still was very excited to be here.

When they checked into their rooms, Tendou would be bunking with Ushijima, since they were divided by year and then put together in pairs.

“Sweet.” Tendou said, grabbing the key. “I’m really lucky that we’re sharing a room.”

Ushijima nodded and once everyone had a key – and their coach once again held his speech about manners and when he expected them to show up the next morning – they started their trek up the stairs. The elevator was never big enough to transport them all at once and they started to split up in search for their rooms.

Once Tendou found the right number, he unlocked the door, swinging it wide open and stepping inside. It was starting to get dark outside and he kicked his shoes off, walking further into the room. It wasn’t big, with two beds and a TV along with a small table with two chairs and a bedside table between their beds crammed together.

“This is awesome.” Tendou grinned. “I’m taking the bed by the window, okay?”

Ushijima nodded, setting his bag down. He rummaged through it for a moment before straightening. “I’ll shower first.”

“Yeah, go ahead.” Tendou waved him off, staring out of the window. He moved a little closer, almost pressing his face against the glass to try if he could see just a little further. Faintly, he registered the muffled noise of running water.

He watched the last light of the day fade away and how the city lit up. It looked like things were far from calming down on the streets. The door clicked open behind him and he turned around to see the ace walking out in his pajamas – sweatpants and a plain, loose gray shirt – rubbing a towel over his head.

“You can go if you want to.”

“Yeah, thanks Ushijima.” Tendou turned to his bag, only to pause. “Hey, do you mind if I call you by your first name?”

Ushijima looked surprised for a moment and then shook his head. “I don’t.”

“Great!” He pulled his toiletries and a pajama from his bag, muttering, “Wakatoshi” under his breath, just to try it out. Throwing the clothes over his shoulder he disappeared into the bath.

Balancing his things on the sink, Tendou quickly stripped down and stepped under the water. In a matter of seconds he felt his hair come down, plastering across his forehead and he brushed it away, tilting his head back.

He enjoyed the hot spray of the water for a few moments before he grabbed the soap and got the smell of the bus from his skin, washing his hair afterwards. Toweling himself dry and slipping into his pajamas, he glanced up to look in the mirror.

A snicker escaped him when he saw himself, red hair dark and wet and slicked back. He looked horribly ridiculous and like a Mafiosi from a bad movie. Winking at his reflection, he smiled at himself and started to brush his teeth.

After he was done and packed everything together again, he left the bath. Wakatoshi had already dried his hair and he looked up when Tendou placed his things down.

“You look different like this.”

“Yeah, you should see me in the morning.” Tendou said, rubbing the towel over his hair until it was slightly mussed. “I usually have a case of bad bed hair.”

He sat down on the bed, so that he was facing Wakatoshi. His friend’s hair looked a little messy itself and he smiled when he saw a strand sticking up funnily. Leaning forward he stretched an arm out and tugged the stray strand down without thinking about the action.

Then he glanced at Wakatoshi and saw that he was looking at him, eyes calm but watching him closely and Tendou suddenly felt the soft hair under his fingertips and he noticed the arc of Wakatoshi’s neck and how the muscles moved when the other boy brought his right hand up to feel for odd strands himself without looking away.

Tendou felt his heart picking up a beat and he sat back, feeling familiar heat crawling high in his cheeks. _Oh damn_ , he thought. This wasn’t something he needed. He hadn’t asked for this…but who was he to blame, Wakatoshi was a great guy, looks and personality wise.

Oh god, he just had to dig his own grave deeper.

“Some of your hair was sticking up.” He said when he noticed that he should say something instead of keeping this intense eye contact up.

Wakatoshi just nodded and pulled his legs on the bed. “Thanks.”

Tendou managed to look away, pulling the towel over his head and rubbing it over his hair again until he was sure he couldn’t wring any more wetness out of them. Bringing the towel back into the bathroom, he was glad when they turned the lights off.

The bed creaked slightly and the sheets rustled when they went to bed. Tendou lied on his back, staring at the ceiling and he realized that Ushijima had fallen asleep around half an hour later.

Groaning quietly, he dragged both hands over his face.

God damn, Wakatoshi was his friend!

How was he supposed to act?

No, things would be fine, this would go away again. Yeah, just like all the other moments when he felt warm and interested in someone. He could totally do this.

He fell asleep, fitfully dreaming of talking busses that threw shampoo bottles at him and an eagle that kept landing on his head, ruining his hairstyle.

He awoke with an arm hanging over the bed, his pillow already fallen to the floor and the sheets half of his body and tangled in his legs. Tendou blearily blinked up at the ceiling, before he realized that an alarm was sounding and then it was suddenly gone.

Sitting up confused, he looked over to see Wakatoshi sitting up as well. Then, of course, the other player had to stretch and Tendou busied himself with picking up his pillow, because damn, loose shirt or not, this just wasn’t fair.

“Morning.” Wakatoshi said and his voice sounded just a little bit rougher than normally.

“Good morning.” Tendou answered, shooting a quick smile at his friend.

Standing up and tapping to his bag with bare feet, Wakatoshi looked at him and nodded towards the bath. “Mind if I go first?”

“No, no, go ahead.” Tendou waved him off and as soon as the door closed, smothered himself with the pillow.

“Great.” He groaned into the material. “This just had to happen, didn’t it?”

~*~

“Tendou, is everything okay?” Reon asked quietly, seriously looking at him. Tendou meanwhile felt like gesturing at fate, because really, first a stretching Ushijima and now his friend noticed that he was a little off?

Okay, to be honest, he maybe wasn’t that good at the whole hiding-my-unexpected-crush-on-my-friend-thing. Maybe he even sucked a little at it, since he had never fallen for someone close to him. Until now whenever he had felt this way for someone, he just simply let it be and since he never really talked to his crushes before anyway, the whole matter resolved itself at some point.

“Yeah, just feeling tired. I haven’t slept in a hotel before.” Tendou admitted, though it wasn’t the real reason why he was a little distracted and tried to not stare at Ushijima – and really, just how much had he looked before? How much was too much? And curse his heart for warming his whole chest whenever Wakatoshi did something cool.

Reon looked concerned and gave his shoulder a pat. “Try to go to sleep sooner tonight then. And if you have trouble, talk with one of the hotel staff; I’m sure they’re willing to give you another pillow or something.”

“It’s fine, really.” Tendou grinned. “Just the first night away, you know?”

His friend smiled and before he could say anything else, the referee blew his whistle, indicating the start of the game.

Over the whole day, Tendou tried to work out just how to get out of this crush and return everything to how it was – because he had liked it, liked the easy friendship he had, liked that he could just walk beside Wakatoshi and not over think it when their shoulders brushed.

After dinner, his mind felt frazzled enough and he was glad that he would meet up with Kenji for an hour or two. He excused himself from the team and waited outside, playing with his phone a little impatiently.

When Kenji showed up – and really, those photos hadn’t really shown just how much his childhood friend had grown – Tendou walked up to him.

“I’m so fucked”, was the greeting that left his mouth and Kenji snorted before giving him a quick, strong hug.

“What’s going on?”, he asked.

“I have a crush on one of my friends.” Tendou admitted, stuffing his phone into his pocket and staring down the street.

Kenji was quiet for a moment. “And that’s bad I guess?”

“Sort of. It’s Ushijima. And it came out of nowhere! Does it usually happen like that?” Tendou asked, gesturing a little to emphasize that he wasn’t really calm about this whole situation.

“Happen like what?”

“Like a spike in the face, or the chest, to be more precise.”

Kenji shook his head. “Come on, let’s walk a little and you tell me everything.”

There wasn’t really that much to say and while they started strolling down the street, Tendou recounted what happened yesterday and today. After he finished, his childhood friend was thoughtful and quiet for a moment.

“No one else knows you swing both ways?”

“You’re the only one.” Tendou murmured. “Before, I never had anyone I wanted to tell and now I just don’t know how. I doubt it’s a good dinner topic.”

“I guess you’re right. And what do you want to do now?”

Sighing, Tendou stared up in the sky. “That’s the big question, isn’t it?”

Honestly, he had absolutely no clue.

~*~

In the end, he just figured out a way to try and act normal. He made sure to keep their shoulders from brushing while walking and sometimes, when he felt like Ushijima’s presence was just too prominent; he pushed Semi or Reon and sometimes Hayato as buffers between them.

It worked. It felt a little awkward in some instances, but Tendou got used to feeling his neck warming and to the fact that when he entered a room, he looked for Wakatoshi first.

Spring Nationals were fun and exciting and Tendou couldn’t help but give it his all whenever he played. He had never seen so many other skilled players before. Players that could keep up with Shiratorizawa and made them work for their victory.

In the end, they made the third place and Tendou met up with Kenji one last time – who had the audacity to wish him good luck with his crush.

“Jerk.” Tendou said.

“Idiot.” Kenji shot back grinning and they parted ways shortly afterwards.

“Who was that?” Semi asked, having watched their exchange from the entrance of the hotel, where the team started to gather and checking their bags one last time.

“My childhood friend Kenji.” Tendou said, keeping his posture relaxed and nonchalant when Wakatoshi joined them. “We have known each other for forever and we kept in contact when he moved to Tokyo.”

The coaches showed up then and began herding everyone into the bus. It was just Tendou’s luck, when he went for the window seat, that Wakatoshi sat down beside him.

It was weird and the first hour felt too long, until Tendou glanced up and realized that Ushijima had dozed off; hands lying relaxed in his lap and his head was tilted to the side to rest against the seat. His mouth was slightly open and his face calm and peaceful.

Pulling out his phone, Tendou wrote Kenji. _I’m so fucked_.

The ass just sent back a heart emoji before replying with properly. _It’s going work out one way or another, if you can, don’t stress yourself too much_.

Sighing, Tendou stared out of the window and ignored it when they hit a small hole in the road and their knees touched.

In the end, he fell asleep as well and woke up slumped against Ushijima, who had leaned against him as well, their shoulders smushed together and their foreheads almost knocking against each other.

He didn’t want to move and probably couldn’t without waking the other boy. Instead, he closed his eyes and tried to pretend that he wasn’t happy about being this close. This would be one hell of a ride in more ways than one, especially in the next while.

~*~

“Okay, what’s up?” Semi asked, putting his pencil down and staring at Tendou. “At first I didn’t really notice it, but Reon is right, you’re acting a little different these past couple of days. Hayato picked up on it too.”

And Tendou wondered why, instead of killer instincts, the universe couldn’t have gifted him a little more in the department of subtlety. He shrugged, staring at his homework and then thought: _oh, what the hell_.

He didn’t like lying to his friends so he looked up at Semi. He trusted his teammate and he would rather face some awkwardness instead of being untruthful. Even if he felt nervous about talking about it and he couldn’t quite meet Semi’s eyes.

“I’m bisexual.” He said and gestured with his pencil. “And, uh, I’m crushing on someone.”

Semi blinked, clearly surprised and taken aback. “Okay, that came out of nowhere.” He fully turned to Tendou. “How long did you know?”

Tendou lifted an eyebrow, really looking at his friend. “That I like both genders or when did my crush start?”

Semi just gave him an unimpressed look. “Both.”

“Well, I guess I figured it out during my second year of Junior High.” He shrugged.

“And your crush…?” The setter sounded a little hesitant but curious nonetheless.

Tendou stared at his hands and then sighed heavily. “Wakatoshi. Ever since Tokyo.”

“Oh.” Semi sounded very surprised and for a long moment, silence hung between them. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Does it bother you?” Tendou found himself asking.

Semi snorted quietly. “No, why should it? But it must be really weird to like a teammate and friend.”

Groaning, Tendou dragged a hand over his face. “Tell me about it.”

“Well, if you need any help or…hey, you used me as a buffer between the two of you a few times in the past couple of days, didn’t you?” His friend stared at him and then shook his head. “Do Reon and Hayato know? Or anyone else?”

The blocker shook his head. “I never told anyone aside from my childhood friend.”

Semi was quiet for a moment before he looked at him seriously. “It must have been exhausting to keep that to yourself.”

“A little I guess.” But if Tendou was honest with himself, he felt a lot better after telling his friend about it. Like there was something he didn’t have to worry about anymore, to keep his attention at while conversing.

“Do you want to tell the others? I definitely won’t tell anyone unless you want me to and I know that Reon has no problems with subjects like these. Hayato shouldn’t either, I think.”

Tendou snorted. “I sure as hell don’t want to gossip it around. But I guess I could tell Reon and Hayato if they bring it up.” He bumped their shoulders together. “Thanks for being cool about it.”

Semi returned the gesture. “Sure.” Then they both looked down at their homework. “I hate economics.” His friend murmured.

“Please.” Tendou held up his physics textbook. “This is way worse.” Then he peered at Semi’s head. “Okay, your hair is clearly past the Oreo-stage. It starts to look like black and white pudding now.”

He deflected the eraser his friend threw at him and snickered, feeling something loosen in his shoulders and chest.

~*~

Tendou ended up telling Reon and Hayato sort of by accident, when they were cleaning the classroom and Reon hat subtly tried to tell him that if he had any problems or something of the sort, he could talk to him.

“I have a crush on Wakatoshi.” He just said, thinking that he could get to the point right away anyway. Reon paused in sweeping the blackboard, clearly thinking about what to say next. Hayato looked up in surprise from where he sat at a desk, going over a list from the teachers and turned to look at the blocker.

“You’re gay?” Reon finally said, speaking carefully as if he didn’t want to offend Tendou.

“Bi”, he answered and then sighed, leaning against his broom. “Semi already talked to me about it a little on the weekend."

“Okay.” Reon said and then frowned slightly, exchanging a short look wit Hayato. “How are you feeling with all that?”

“Frustrated, a little annoyed.” Tendou shrugged. “All sorts of…” He gestured around. “Stuff around Wakatoshi. It’s thankfully not hindering practice though.”

Reon smiled faintly. “You’re not the sort of person to put feelings over performance. Besides, when you play, you get sucked up into it completely. Does Ushijima know?”

Tendou grimaced. “No. I don’t plan on telling him either. I’m just going to wait until it passes. Like a thunderstorm you know? If you don’t nurture something, it can’t grow right?”

Reon looked doubtful but didn’t disagree. They cleaned the rest of the class in silence, before his friend clasped a hand on his shoulder. “Well, if you need anything, I’m there for you.”

“Me too.” Hayato spoke up and shrugged with one shoulder. “My cousin Rima is into girls, so I’m not new to hearing stuff like that or anything. Besides, I’m cool with you swinging both ways.”

Heaving a sigh and feeling his shoulders drop, Tendou smiled at his friends. The door to the classroom opened in this moment and Semi leaned against the doorframe, their bags over his shoulder. Tendou beamed at his friends. “Where did you cool people come from huh?”

Reon chuckled. “We grow on trees, you know. And we fall down perfectly formed and with a volleyball stuck to our chest.”

Tendou snickered. “Okay, that was bad Reon. Where would I grow?”

“You’re like a fungus.” Semi said, smirking. “You grow on us.”

“Oh god, Semi, please tell me you don’t get into the trend of bad puns and even worse jokes.” Tendou shook his head while Hayato laughed. “Leave that to my weird homeroom teacher.”

Semi rolled his eyes and jerked his head towards the hallway. “You guys ready to go? I don’t want to be late for practice.”

“Oh yeah, today we vote for the new captain.” Reon said, walking towards Semi and taking his bag. Tendou followed his friend’s example and they left the classroom. Hayato followed them, stuffing the paperwork into his bag.

“Who do you think it will be?” He wondered aloud.

“Ushijima.” Reon and Semi said at the same time.

“I agree.” Hayato spoke up. “He’s a really strong player and I know that even the third years respected him when they were still in the club.”

Semi nodded. “He’s already turning into the grand ace of the team and he’s really good with everyone on it.”

“He’s a reliable player and good for guiding everyone. It feels like, as long as nothing can shake him, nothing can shake the team.” Reon added.

Tendou grinned. “Wow, apparently I’m not the only one with a crush.”

“Oh shut up.” Hayato laughed and gave him a playful shove.

“It’s called appreciation.” Reon joked before they turned around the corner to the stairs and saw Ushijima walking down.

“Wakatoshi!” Tendou called out, grinning and internally telling his heart to stay the heck quiet. Besides, he had to act as normal as possible if his friends already noticed him acting a little out of the norm.

The ace stopped and waited until they caught up to him, and Tendou continued speaking. “We were just talking about you. You’re going to be the next captain, right?”

“If the majority of the team votes for me, yes.” Ushijima nodded.

“Please, you’re pretty popular. Besides, you already have my vote.” Tendou said, pointing at his chest and internally facepalming. Way to go. He sounded sooo suspicious to his own ears. Semi made a quiet, amused sound and Tendou shot him an unimpressed glare.

“You have our support too.” Reon said and Semi nodded, his face showing his usual default I’m-serious-expression. Hayato simply smiled and gave the ace a thumps-up.

Ushijima tilted his head in appreciation and they talked about what the set-up for the next year looked like.

After practice, the coaches called them all together to elect the new captain and – though it wasn’t really a surprise – Ushijima was voted for.

Tendou felt ridiculously proud of his friend, crush and teammate, when he accepted the position and gave a short speech. It was to the point, clear cut and Tendou had to hide a grin because it was so Wakatoshi.

Afterwards, Reon dragged them all to a nearby convenience store and they all bought ice-cream in celebration.

And despite the tests looming up behind their backs, they all looked forward to the coming summer.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope you enjoy this chapter =) The whole thing still isn't beta-read so any mistakes are mine and I really hope I managed to write things well enough.
> 
> With that, I'm really happy about the responses I got for this little story so far, thank you all! It really made me very happy!

The rest of the year passed quickly and on his birthday, Tendou got a ticket to Tokyo from his grandparents, immediately sending a picture of it to Kenji.

Kenji sent an excited emoji back and Tendou rolled his eyes – he still found it an incredible waste to use a whole message for only one icon.

He spent the part of summer break he was in Miyagi with his friends. They played volleyball under the hot sun, with Semi getting sunburn on his neck and Hayato almost collapsing thanks to heat stroke. They all got to see the glorious sight of Wakatoshi in too big sunglasses, that made him look a little like a thug and which he wore with his usual air of stoic confidence.

They went to the cinema together once too and stayed up a whole night at Semi’s place while watching movies and playing games.

The part of summer break Tendou spent in Tokyo was fun as well. Kenji introduced him to some of his friends and they went to the public pools more than once. They were lying around with ice-cream in their hands in some afternoons and talked about everything and nothing.

It was still incredibly easy to spend time with Kenji, like the distance didn’t change their close friendship. Kenji taught him a bit of soccer and they spent long days exploring Tokyo, walking and fooling around.

Kenji also had gotten himself a bird over spring – one that could learn how to talk – and when Tendou left again, he had taught the bird every single curse word and ridiculous sentence he could come up with.

Back in Miyagi, Tendou went to visit his grandparents and spend the last weekend before school at their place, letting his grandma cut his hair again – by now he could go to a parlor on his own, but he was too lazy to do so, especially when it was fine this way too.

On the first day of school, he took care to make his hair extra spiky and met up with Reon a couple of streets from his home and they walked the rest of the way.

This time Tendou was in the same class as Reon, Semi got into class one and Hayato and Wakatoshi were together in class three.

Semi’s hair now looked like someone accidentally spilled paint over his head, the white growing out more and more. Eita had also, for a little bit in summer, picked up the habit of telling horrible jokes and puns in a deadpan voice, making Tendou laugh despite himself and the fact that those jokes were really, really bad – and he told one in greeting, causing Reon to sigh and the blocker to snort before he could stop himself.

“Hey, I’m taller than you now!” Tendou observed soon afterwards, comparing his height to Semi’s, with the later coming up to his temple “Cool.”

Semi just rolled his eyes and lifted his hand in a friendly wave when Ushijima joined them. Tendou had thought – and hoped – that the distance during the latter part of summer would help him in weakening his crush. When he saw his friend though, it all broke forth again and while a part of him was happy, another part of him just internally gestured up towards the sky in a silent ’why’.

Their homeroom classes were besides each other and they hung around in the hallway until they had to go inside. Like last year, the first day of school wasn’t all that long and after a quick lunch, they trotted off to the gym.

“Look, a bunch of frightened first years.” Tendou whispered with a small snicker.

Reon gave the new students a friendly smile when he passed them and shot his friend a disapproving look. “Like we were any different last year.”

“Yeah, I still remember that feeling.” Hayato said, shaking his head. “But it wasn’t that bad in the end. Just give them a bit of time to get settled in and they stop being nervous.”

“And hopefully they don’t start being troublesome.” Semi added.

Tendou grinned and nudged Ushijima with his elbow, though he was careful to make sure he didn’t touch their bare arms together. “Come on, with a captain like Wakatoshi, they’ll fall in line.”

“And with a coach like Washijou they won’t dare to be difficult. Well, more than we are anyway.” Hayato added.

They gathered around their coach after Washijou had briefly spoken to the first years. Ushijima gave a short speech and soon they fell back into routine again. Tendou realized he had missed practice and made sure to get the most out of it, holding his hands up in victory when he managed to get an annoyed sound out of Semi after blocking the other boy for the second time.

Over the next couple of weeks, their coach shuffled things around a little and that was how Tendou ended playing on court in a practice match. It was a great game. With Semi as his setter, Hayato behind him as the libero, Reon and Ushijima spiking with them and with two third year blockers at his side, he had never felt more right and powerful in his life.

They won the match in two sets. Tendou high fived his teammates at any opportunity, and he noticed that Ushijima looked more focused and intense while playing. Unbound even, like gravity had no hold over him when he jumped and raised his arm for a spike.

Tendou knew that this year they were permanently on the court, at the latest time after the third years retired.

Tendou couldn’t wait for that time to come, to stand on the court again and go toe to toe with other powerful and skilled players.

~*~

“Is it just me or are the teachers crueler this year?” Tendou moaned, slumping over his school books. They were currently at Hayato’s home, studying together. Or attempting to. Tendou and Hayato both sucked at physics, Semi hated economics with a passion none of them quite understood, Reon kept his grades on a somewhat average scale and Ushijima had a bit of trouble with English.

They usually managed to progress well, today though; they had stopped studying on most of the subjects after a couple of hours.

“I swear that physics teacher has it out for me.” Hayato mumbled while packing his things together to clear the table.

“Economics is so annoying.” Semi said with a frown.

Reon shot his friend an amused look. “And you’re still good at it.”

“Just because I hate it doesn’t mean I can’t study for it.” Semi sniffed and put his books away as well.

Tendou and Ushijima cleared their things from the table and Hayato went with Reon to bring some snacks and drinks back before they moved to the living room for a round of games.

They talked about the promising first years and the practice matches they had scheduled next week.

“Do you think we have a training camp again this year?” Hayato wondered while shuffling some cards.

“I hope so, last year was fun.” Semi said.

“Do you know anything Wakatoshi?” Tendou asked, turning to the ace.

“I’m not supposed to tell the team anything the coaches haven’t confirmed.” Ushijima said and Tendou leaned over towards him, trying for an adorable facial expression and knowing he missed by a mile.

“But Wakatoshi, I don’t see any team present, just your friends.”

By now Tendou was able to discern most – if not all – of Ushijima’s facial expressions no matter how unfazed he looked to outsiders, so he knew the ace felt amused. And wasn’t that an observation that made him groan internally, when he realized that he watched Wakatoshi enough to see it when something amused him or annoyed him or when he was confused about something – an expression that tended to show up when he didn’t understand a school related problem.

“Sorry, I can’t tell you anything.”

Tendou sighed and Reon shrugged. “We’ll find out eventually.”

They resumed their game of cards and passed the time with trying out a few other games as well, until they headed home.

Over the next days they prepared for their practice match against a university club and on the day it took place, Tendou critically eyed the players entering their gym.

“University is mean. Those guys are all fully grown and muscled and stuff.”

Semi shot him an amused look. “Tendou, you are almost as tall as most of them are.”

“Eh, I guess.” He did look forward to it though and when they started to play, he enjoyed himself.

They won the match and Tendou grinned happily while they walked to the convenience store to buy a little something. He couldn’t quite decide between two snacks and got Hayato to buy one of them so they could share half.

Later in the evening, when he was home, he called Kenji and they talked a little, before his friend explained some physics to him and afterwards Tendou listened to him talk about the cute girl that was in his class.

~*~

Okay, it was just training camp. Tendou just had to continue to tell himself that. When they left the bus though, he tapped Semi’s arm.

“Yeah?” His friend asked, stepping a little aside with him.

“Hey, do you mind if I use you a little as a buffer while we’re here? I don’t want to risk anything just because Wakatoshi and I sleep in the same room.” Tendou made sure to keep his voice low so that no one else would overhear.

Semi blinked, surprised and then he frowned in confusion. “How did you survive bunking in a hotel room with him?”

“I have absolutely no idea. Besides, I’m supposed to be your fungus, you should help me.”

“I knew I was going to regret saying that.” Semi pretended to be exasperated before turning serious again. “Maybe you should tell him? Even in the worst case scenario I doubt he would be bothered by it, so what could happen?”

Tendou thought over it for a moment and then shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just…so personal. And I don’t feel like sharing it if it doesn’t lead to anything but a lot of awkwardness.”

Semi mulled over it for a second and then nodded. “Okay, sure. I guess I could try. Just give me a sign or something.”

“Okay, thanks.” Tendou sighed a little, before he perked up when he heard Wakatoshi’s voice behind him.

“Tendou, your bag.” The ace was standing at the side of the bus, unloading his things and holding Tendou’s bag out to the redhead.

“Thanks!” Taking the bag from his friend, they started to gather around their coaches. Washijou told them the plan for the next couple of days they were here and reminded them to behave before sending them to their rooms.

Six to eight of them would bunk together and Tendou found a room for him and his friends right away, two of the third years joining them. They sat their bags down and started to change into their gym clothes to get ready for practice.

Training camp was just as grueling as Tendou remembered and by the time they practically shuffled into the baths, he felt tempted to just fall asleep then and there.

One of the first years was beat enough to really doze away and Reon had to save him from falling face first into the water. Tendou just slumped down and stretched out his legs, letting his head rest against the tiled wall behind him. He would just relax until he felt less like an overcooked noodle.

A vague splash could be heard around him and the water shifted when someone moved. At some point though, he dragged himself out of the bath and toweled himself dry to go to bed.

Hayato was following him, along with one of the third years and they just got their beds out and changed into pajamas, before they laid down and soon fell asleep.

In the end, Tendou shouldn’t have worried about anything related to his crush, since their coaches made sure they were too tired to think past dinner, a bath and bed at the evening.

The training camp was passing fast and on the ride back, Tendou found himself sitting besides Wakatoshi, who lightly dozed away again.

Satori glanced at him, watched him breathe in calmly and deeply, face relaxed and body tilted slightly to the side while long and powerful legs were stretched out as far as possible in the space between the seats.

Tendou rubbed a hand over his eyes and sighed. This wasn’t just a simple crush anymore and it didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon either. Feeling a little restless, he texted Kenji.

_How do you stop liking someone?_

He received a message a few minutes later. _I don’t know. If it really won’t go away, talk about it?_

_Gee, aren’t you helpful_ , Tendou answered, glancing up shortly to see that the coaches were still sitting at the front of the bus, talking quietly with each other. A small snore could be heard from the seat before Tendou’s.

Kenji simply sent him a prayer emoji back. Tendou changed his contact name into ‘King of Dicks’ for a couple of days after that.

~*~

Tendou stood at the side of the gym with his friends, a little away from the other players, drinking and watching Ushijima practice with some of the other first strings. The Inter High was only a couple of weeks away now.

“What beautiful form.” The blocker said without thinking when their ace jumped, muscles moving flawlessly to bring his arm down in a powerful spike.

Semi besides him coughed and Hayato snickered, elbowing him. “Maybe you should tell him.”

Tendou stared at the libero. “Why is everyone trying to get me to do that?”

“Who is trying to get you to do what?” Reon asked, joining them.

“My childhood friend and Semi and now Hayato think I should _confess_.” Tendou said with a side glance to his friends.

“You don’t have to confess right away, just compliment him.” Hayato suggested.

Semi turned to the libero. “He’s already doing that. Tendou pretty much says whatever he wants to Ushijima.”

“Well, it wouldn’t surprise me if our ace doesn’t notice him flirting.” Reon said, looking at Ushijima.

Tendou sucked in a breath. “I do not flirt!” He honestly didn’t even really know how that worked anyway.

“You so do, or more like, your version of it. It’s just very one sided since Ushijima is just going along with it without saying much back.” Hayato grinned at him. “And you’re the only one calling him by his first name.”

“If you’d ask him, you could call him that too, I’m sure.” Tendou grumbled and was quiet for a moment. “Do I really flirt?”

“Well, you pretty much talk about anything with Ushijima and he always listens, but yeah, sometimes I think you do your own weird way of trying to flirt subtly.” Hayato nodded and Semi hid a grin.

“Tendou is anything but subtle”, the setter said with humor in his tone.

“I let you know that I’m plenty subtle –” Tendou couldn’t finish speaking when the coach called them over.

“Alright, listen up; I want you to work with these first years for a bit.” Washijou nodded at the two boys standing beside him, one with straight cut hair and the other with light, messy hair – they introduced themselves as Shirabu Kenjirou and Kawanishi Taichi.

Tendou and Semi seized them up while Reon, kind soul that he could be when he wasn’t teasing Tendou, stepped forward to greet the underclassmen with a smile.

They were divided into teams of three and started to practice with each other. It was fun, Tendou got to rile up the younger boys and tried his best to get to Reon as well, until they switched things around and he had fun poking at Semi and Hayato on the other side of the net.

After practice, when Tendou was back home, he kept thinking about the conversation he had had with his friends. If he really was flirting with Wakatoshi and they noticed, he really had to do something.

The next morning, he walked up to his friends with a determined face, making sure that Ushijima was nowhere in sight yet.

“Oh no”, Semi said. “That is the face of upcoming bad decisions.”

Tendou chose to ignore him. “I think it’s high time I fall for someone else.”

“Who?” Hayato asked, slightly confused. “Is there someone else?”

“No, not yet. And that is what I’m going to change. And you guys help me pick someone out who definitely isn’t Wakatoshi.” It was simple, really. He just had to focus on someone else, someone he felt a sort of attraction to or something. Someone he wasn’t friends with and therefore couldn’t potentially mess up their relationship.

His friends looked at each other and Reon shrugged. “Okay, it’s worth a try. What do you look for in a person?”

Tendou paused, thinking about it and then he spread his arms slightly in a clueless gesture. “Personality? Cute appearance and confidence?”

Hayato snorted. “I have trouble seeing Ushijima as cute.”

“Please, he’s plenty adorable and that’s the problem.” The blocker ignored the amused and exasperated glances his friends exchanged.

“What about her?” Reon said after a moment, subtly pointing at a second year. She was pretty, a little taller than most girls and she moved with quiet confidence, smiling sweetly at her talking friend.

Tendou watched her for a few moments and then shook his head. “Nah.”

“Well then, what’s with him?” Hayato suggested, pointing out a guy from the basketball club. Semi frowned.

“No, I can’t imagine them together.” The setter looked around critically and then nodded towards a petit third year with glasses. “What about her?”

Tendou scrunched up his nose slightly. “She’s way too much out of my league.”

“What are you doing?” They all startled slightly when they heard Ushijima behind them and for a second they were all speechless, before Reon smiled.

“We try to find someone Tendou wants to date.”

Internally, Tendou told himself to calm down and to try and be normal. Wakatoshi looked at him with a slight expression of confusion and puzzlement. “Why?”

Hell, were his hands getting sweaty? Yeah, they were, just a little. “Well, I’m interested in that, you know.” Tendou shrugged, hoping to come across as nonchalant. Judging by Semi’s expression, he wasn’t really succeeding.

“And why would you pick out a stranger?” Ushijima even sounded a little confused now.

“Eh, you know, there is no one in my class who interests me and I just brought the subject up.” Tendou smiled, feeling increasingly awkward and he still couldn’t look away from the ace. Damn, he had it bad for the other boy.

Wakatoshi seemed to think it over for a long moment, looking serious. “I see.” He finally said. Before he could say anything else though, the school bell rang and he left with a nod towards his friends, Hayato quickly waving at them before he followed the ace to class. Reon and Tendou exhaled heavily at the same time.

“Am I the only one who felt like watching a train-wreck about to happen?” Semi asked, staring after Ushijima.

“God, this was so awkward.” Tendou groaned. “Let’s not do that ever again.”

“Agreed.” Reon sighed, before nudging him in the side. “Come on or we’re going to be late for class.”

For the rest of the morning, Tendou tried to forget what happened and instead focused on the other students around him. None of them really caught his eyes and the flickering interest he felt for one or two of them disappeared the second he thought about Ushijima.

He was a lost cause.

~*~

In the days before the Inter High, the others took to calling Ushijima by his first name as well and none of them ever mentioned Tendou’s attempt at finding someone else to fall for – thankfully, he really didn’t need to be reminded of that particular embarrassment.

Tendou also found his hands full with juggling school and training with the first string and the first years they were entrusted with. At first, he tried to continue to work around his crush on Wakatoshi, only to come to the conclusion that, if he was a lost cause anyway, he might as well spend time with the ace.

He didn’t have to do anything stupid, he could just hang around and…well, nothing changed the fact that Ushijima was a great friend when you knew how to talk to him.

They spend more time together again, once Tendou gave up on keeping at least a little bit of distance between them and he noticed that sometimes Semi and Reon brought up excuses to give them a little time alone with each other, those jerks – even if a part of him felt fiercely happy to know them.

When the Inter High finally came, Tendou spend an increasing amount of time on the court, switchin in for a third year pretty often.

It was amazing, it was fun and he wouldn’t forget the expressions from the opposing players, how they grit their teeth in frustration, when he shut them down. This was what got him so addicted to blocking, to playing volleyball. It wasn’t just winning. It was coming out on top of his opponents, scoring off of them. And he was standing right there, in front of the net, having a first row seat of watching some players crumble under the pressure, of others losing their cool and of most of them staring at him with an angry challenge in their eyes.

He loved it.

They got through the matches without trouble and faced off against Aoba Jousai in the finals. Tendou sat at the side before the match began, wrapping his fingers. He was usually good at that, though today he had to work slowly to keep his excitement in check.

He barely noticed Wakatoshi standing beside him, before the ace spoke up.

“Do you need help?”

Surprised, Tendou looked up, pausing and before he could stop himself, a stupid, giddy part of him made him speak. “Yeah, if you could just…” He gestured a little.

A moment later, Ushijima squatted down in front of him, reaching out with sure and steady movements. His skin was warm and his hands just as calloused as Tendou’s. The ace’s hands generally were just a little bigger but Tendou noticed that his fingers were a smidge longer than Wakatoshi’s.

When the bandages were secured and Ushijima dropped his hands again, Tendou blinked, feeling like he was coming back from wherever his brain had went off to. He still felt warmth tingling over his skin and Ushijima looked at him, eyes focused and calm.

“Thanks.” Tendou said and for a moment, his friend felt that much closer to him than they physically were.

Nodding, Wakatoshi straightened again and waited for Tendou to do the same before they joined the team to enter the court. Semi raised an eyebrow questioningly and Reon smiled, pointedly looking between Ushijima and him before settling on Tendou.

Tendou sighed and shook his head, before focusing again. They had a match to win.

~*~

“’We are going to nationals, we are going to Tokyo.” Tendou sang into his phone, recording the message before sending it to Kenji. He felt stupidly giddy and happy, especially since he had played against Aoba Jousai. Nothing was better than being an active part in their victory over the other school.

He flopped back onto his bed, staring up at the ceiling. His mind replayed the day, the match, the dinner with the team and finally…Wakatoshi. And usually Tendou felt just too silly and like he shouldn’t even start going in that direction, but he couldn’t stop thinking of those hands on his.

Of the calm touches that showed nothing of the pure strength Ushijima could unleash on the court. Something about that was filling his chest with a prickling feeling, that he knew both sides to Wakatoshi. The silently caring friend and volleyball maniac during practice and the ruthless player on the court, slamming past every resistance he met.

A second later he realized that he felt pride welling up. Proud that Wakatoshi let him see all that, allowed Tendou to introduce him to movies he was skeptical about and the adorable little wrinkle that could appear between his eyebrows whenever he was stuck on a particularly difficult math or chemistry problem.

Slapping his hands over his face, Tendou felt the stupid smile he had on his lips pressing against his palms.

“Damn.” He whispered before lowering his arms and letting them fall to his sides. He knew this crush wouldn’t go away.

Maybe he really had to talk with Wakatoshi about it. Maybe. At some point.

Once he stopped being chicken about it.

~*~

Tendou cleared his throat when Semi sat down beside him in the bus, shortly peering over the seats to see Ushijima talking with the coaches outside, making sure everyone was accounted for and getting onto the bus.

They had made it to the top eight of Japan during nationals and were on their way back to Miyagi now. And if it wouldn’t be for what Tendou was going to ask, he would feel the exhaustion from their last match even more than he did now.

“So, how do I confess to someone? Theoretically.” He kept his voice low enough, that no one else could overhear him.

His friend turned to look at him, eyes attentive and facial expression open and spoke just as quietly. “You want to go through with it?”

“Theoretically.” Tendou reminded him and then shrugged. “Maybe I should start thinking about saying something…I don’t think this thing with Wakatoshi is going to go anywhere and…I don’t know, sometimes I feel so happy about little things and there is not really a reason to, so I thought I might as well get rejected and get over it.”

“First of all, you have any right to feel happy about whatever you want to.” Semi said and reminded Tendou of Kenji for a moment – who had cheered them on during their matches and Tendou had officially introduced him to everyone afterwards. “Secondly, what makes you so sure there is nothing going on?”

Tendou stared at Semi and then squinted. “You sound awfully suspicious right now. What are you hinting at?”

The setter shrugged, looking nothing but honest and innocent. “I’m just saying, from all of us, you’re closest to Wakatoshi.”

“Yeah, but that’s because I’m his best friend or…” Tendou froze. “God, I’m his best friend!”

Semi looked at him as if he was an idiot. “Yes, you are. What’s the problem?”

“This will be so much more awkward when he turns me down than I thought before.” Groaning quietly, he rubbed a hand over his face. “Eita, do you want to dye your hair red and take over my life for a couple of weeks and get this whole show over and done with?”

The setter just wrinkled his nose slightly. “Red isn’t my color, my skin tone doesn’t fit it.”

Tendou looked at his friend before laughing. “Yeah, you would look even weirder than now, with your hair going from this odd blond-silver-white to black.” He pretended to sigh. “I really miss your Oreo-look. It was funny.”

Semi just lifted an eyebrow and cast a significant look towards the window where the last students stashed their bags away and got ready to enter the bus.

“Yeah, right.” Tendou said, growing serious again. “So, theoretically, how do I confess without making a fool of myself?”

“You just go up and tell the other person you like them. Those are your feelings, you know, they won’t make you look stupid.” The setter shrugged. “And as I said, not everything is a lost cause.”

Tendou shook his head. “I will just ignore the last part you said, because we both know what happens with false hopes right?” He settled back into the seat before knocking his knee lightly against Semi’s. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” His friend glanced outside and smiled, patting his shoulder before he stood up. “And I’m going to keep being a good friend, even if you can be pretty dense.”

“What?” Tendou sat up a little, only to realize that Semi walked to the free seat in the row behind him, sitting down besides Hayato and a moment later Ushijima sat besides Tendou.

The blocker shot Semi a narrow-eyed look, getting an innocent expression in return, before he settled into his seat, noticing that Wakatoshi looked at him a little questioningly.

“Is something the matter?” Ushijima asked and Tendou waved his concerns away.

“No, just Eita being a smartass.” He said it loud enough so that the setter could hear him and then stretched his tired legs out a little, trying to keep his mind from going into directions it shouldn’t head to. When he looked at the ace again though, he paused, noticing the exhausted lines along his face and that he seemed to sink a bit more into the seat than usually.

“You look tired.” Tendou said in a low voice.

Wakatoshi exhaled quietly. “I am.”

Tendou felt stupidly happy about the fact that the ace was so honest with him. “Yeah, I’m pretty beat too.” Smiling, he touched their shoulders together, a softer version of the light bump he liked to share with his friends.

Ushijima nodded and they quieted down when the door of the bus closed behind the coaches and shortly afterwards the bus pulled out of the parking lot.

Tendou slumped down a little in his seat, getting comfortable for the long ride back. He watched the buildings outside passing by and then slowly felt a light weight sinking against his shoulder.

Glancing over, he noticed that Wakatoshi had fallen asleep, listing towards Tendou and leaning a bit against his shoulder. His head though was at a slightly awkward angle and it looked like it would cause his neck to hurt later.

For a long moment, Tendou just looked at him, took in the small shadows his hair cast over his forehead and he noticed the little birth mark peeking out from under his collar close to his collarbone. If Semi really might be right that his crush wasn’t a hopeless one-way street, he would be the luckiest and happiest person alive. And proud like hell.

Shaking those thoughts from his mind, he carefully reached up a hand, tickling a finger against Ushijima’s ear. The adorable little frown appeared but at least the ace shifted slightly, bringing his head into a more comfortable position. Wakatoshi was resting his weight a little more firmly against Tendou now, who couldn’t stop himself from pressing back a little.

“How adorable.” He suddenly heard Hayato whisper with a hidden snicker.

Looking up he saw his teammate leaning up against their seats. He stuck his tongue out at him. “Jerk”, he whispered back.

Hayato fondly smirked at him. “And yet you love us.”

Tendou rolled his eyes, turning away from the libero, who settled back into his seat. After staring out of the window again for a little while, Tendou felt his body growing heavy and he started to doze as well, waking up a few times and every time, he found himself pressed a little more against Wakatoshi.

He was enjoying it too much, but he also didn’t want to pull away, so he just settled on continuing to doze until they were back home.

When the bus pulled to a stop in front of their school in the evening, he moved the shoulder Wakatoshi rested against, causing the ace to sit up suddenly and blink sleepily for a moment as he woke up fully.

They piled out of the bus and after a short speech from the coach, they were free to go.

“Do you guys know what we need sometime soon?” Hayato asked while picking up his bag.

“Less homework?”, Reon suggested.

“That too, but we should have a sleep over, with a movie night and everything.”

“I’m all for it.” Tendou smiled, hiding a yawn behind a hand and slinging his bag over his shoulder. “How about next weekend? I’m free then.”

“I’m free too.” Semi said. “I could bring some movies.”

“I can bring the food.” Reon offered and looked at Wakatoshi. The ace seemed to think it over for a moment before he met their eyes.

“I can come as well. Do you want me to bring anything?”

“Blankets or pillows, though that goes for most of you.” Hayato suggested. “I don’t know if we have enough around for everyone. But you could chip in to bring drinks if you want to.”

Ushijima nodded and they parted ways, agreeing to talk more about their plans tomorrow.

Tendou’s parents greeted him once he was back home and he shuffled into his room to unpack his bag.

Falling face first into his bed afterwards, he allowed any sort of tension to bleed out of his body. Rolling onto his side, he dragged the blankets over him and felt the light smile on his lips as he recalled the drive back, a warm feeling curling in his chest. He fell asleep quickly enough after that.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm very sorry for the long wait! I hope you all will like this chapter!

After the third years retired with a couple of advices for them, Tendou was officially declared a permanent starting player – and grinning happily about it all the way through practice. His blocking practically hit a new height and his serves had a little more power to them. He felt like taking on the world.

They kept up their hard work in school and the club until the weekend rolled around and they gathered at Hayato’s home late in the afternoon for a sleep over. The libero had declared with excitement that his parents were gone until tomorrow evening and they basically could do anything as long as they didn’t disturb the neighbors or destroyed anything.

The first thing they did was drag all the guest futons they could find into the living room in front of the couch, spreading sheets and blankets over them, turning it into the perfect place to watch movies until sunrise would blind them through the windows.

They poked fun at each other and talked a bit about volleyball while trying to cook dinner. They mostly sucked at it but Reon and Hayato managed to find an easy recipe online and they somehow got the rice and vegetables done without burning anything or making it taste like shit. It was only a little too spicy, since Reon’s hand had slipped while seasoning the vegetables, though it was still fine.

Besides, they majorly would live from snacks until they would feel like rolling instead of walking anyway.

After their quick dinner, they settled down in the living room, squabbling about which movie to start with until Reon secretly pressed a DVD case into Wakatoshi’s hands, who simply put the movie in and caused the friendly argument to stop.

Tendou – because his friends were dicks, caring and well meaning but still dicks – sat directly besides Ushijima. The only reprieve he got was that he didn’t know the movie and just let himself get sucked up by it, forgetting everything around him for a while.

Around eleven and closer to midnight, they tried one of the horror movies and half an hour in, it caused Semi to flinch a little and Tendou himself inched a little back, hugging a pillow while pretending that he was merely using it to lean his chin on instead of hiding behind it.

Despite boasting to stay up the whole night, Tendou felt his eyes slipping closed a while later, feeling comfortable and warm and it became increasingly difficult to concentrate on the movie as well as – they watched a thriller now – following the plot.

Somewhere around three o’clock Semi and he dozed off. Tendou briefly woke a little when he felt someone pulling the edge of another pillow from under his shoulder and dragging the blanket almost up to his nose.

His dreams were undisturbed and he slept deeply, only waking when the sun hit his face and it got too warm under the blankets. Blearily opening his eyes, he noticed he was lying on his side, his arm outstretched and thrown half across Ushijima’s torso, while he had stuck one foot under Semi’s leg, feeling the setter shift away a little in his sleep.

Tendou felt oddly tired and contemplated just not to move and leave his arm where it was – oh the temptation – before he sighed and rolled onto his stomach, hiding his face in the pillow and kicking his blanket off.

He dozed off a little again, listening to his friends breathe around him and he woke again when he felt Wakatoshi shift beside him, his shoulder touching the blocker’s arm. Opening one eye, Tendou saw that the ace was still very much asleep, breathing deeply and quietly.

Grumbling silently, Tendou just pulled the pillow over his head before his bladder made itself known. He sat up and freed himself from the rest of the blankets, carefully and quietly making his way out of the living room and into the bathroom.

When he resurfaced again, he found a tired Reon standing in the kitchen, one of the soda bottles they had brought in his hands. The other player looked like he was half asleep on his feet and after giving Tendou a bottle of his own, they both made their way back into the living room. In a silent agreement that they could still sleep a little, they lied back down.

Tendou dozed away again quickly, waking when Ushijima lightly shook his shoulder. Making a confused sound, he looked up at the ace, who was standing over him, hair a little mussed from sleep.

“Breakfast.” Wakatoshi said by explanation and Hayato snorted from somewhere to the side.

“More like lunch. It’s twelve. Get up Tendou; you’re going to help too.” The libero pulled at his blanket.

Tendou sat up and Semi, who entered the room, snorted. “God, you have the worst bed hair.”

“I know.” The blocker grinned, dragging a hand through his hair to ruffle it up a little bit more. A few strands fell into his face and he brushed them out of the way. “What are we going to eat?”

“Toast and eggs.” Reon said and smiled when he saw Tendou’s unimpressed look. “If you can do anything else, feel free to cook.”

“Eh.” Waving a hand, the blocker got up and stretched before reaching back to scratch his shoulder. “Sounds great to me.”

They were too tired to fool around much in the kitchen and afterwards they all freshened up before putting away everything they used for their sleepover. One after another, they left around two o’clock and Tendou was walking part of the way with Wakatoshi. He felt comfortable; despite being aware of how close they were while walking. Had it always been that way?

When they turned around a corner, their elbows brushed and for a second Tendou thought about confessing on the spot, just blurting it out and blindsiding Wakatoshi. In the end, he only opened his mouth halfway, before he forgot what he wanted to say.

They went separate ways a couple of streets from Ushijima’s place and once Tendou himself was home, he whipped out his phone to text Kenji.

_How do I confess to someone?_

He waited for a couple of minutes and then just took a shower before checking his phone again. This time he had an answer.

_Omg, do you want to do it? I’m rooting for you! Just say it. Be yourself._

Tendou gave his phone an unimpressed stare. _Not helpful. I don’t know what to say._

His phone pinged with a message practically seconds after he hit send. _Just talk volleyball, he should understand that, right? Or be as direct as possible, that never fails to bring the point across._

Tendou mulled it over and came to the conclusion that this was the smartest thing anyone ever said to him in regards to Ushijima. Playing with the phone in his hand he sat down on his bed.

_You’re great, thanks._ He typed back, already thinking how exactly to talk volleyball when he got a voice message. Opening it, he heard the lyrics of ‘never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down’ before he helplessly dissolved into disbelieving laugher.

~*~

“Okay, so, I have been thinking.” Tendou started, sitting down at the lunch table, knowing that Wakatoshi was still stuck in the lunch line.

“Oh no.” Semi frowned.

“Please tell me it’s nothing like last time.” Hayato said.

“We’re still going to support you though.” Reon added calmly.

Tendou snorted, pointing at them. “You’re lucky I like you all. But yeah, I think I’m going to do the confessing thing.” That got everyone’s attention.

Semi and Reon sighed while Hayato muttered something that sounded suspiciously like ‘finally’. Tendou narrowed his eyes, staring at them. “What’s up with that response?”

Semi just shrugged while Reon pulled an innocent face and Hayato smiled disarmingly. On everyone else it probably would have worked. Tendou just kept staring at them. In the end, the libero cracked first.

“It’s just; you have been crushing on him since almost a year. I mean, the Spring Tournaments are going to be in barely a two months.” His friend shrugged slightly. “We’ve been wondering when you were going to say something.”

“Well, I’m only going to say something after the tournament is over. I don’t want to potentially mess anything up by confessing too early and making everything weird.”

Reon smiled. “I doubt anything could disrupt Wakatoshi, aside from a nuke coming down at his head.”

“He’d just spike the thing out of the city.” Hayato snickered. They all paused for a second then.

Semi frowned slightly. “Why could I imagine that just now?”

“Yeah, a disturbing image.” Reon agreed before shaking his head and turning back to Tendou. “As we were about to say, it took you long enough.”

Tendou sighed. “It’s more for my own sake of mind. I just…want to get it off my chest. And I demand a horror movie marathon when I get my heart broken alright?”

Reon looked surprised. “Why horror movies?”

“Nothing should be better at distracting me from feeling…well, whatever, when I’m getting scared out of my skin.” It was flawless logic, really, even if his friends clearly didn’t quite agree.

“Alright, horror movies.” Semi nodded. “But as I said, don’t just give up.”

Tendou lifted an eyebrow. “Since when did I ever just give up? I mean, I wouldn’t be here today if I were a pushover.” He stoppend when he saw Ushijima coming towards them. Like always, Wakatoshi sat down across from him.

Tendou leaned forward a bit, glancing at his friend’s tray. “You picked the curry? Is it any good?”

Ushijima took the spoon and ate a bite before he nodded. “It’s okay.”

Tendou hummed and turned back to his own food, letting the others start up a conversation while filling his stomach quietly. Besides, just now he felt like he’d say something incredibly stupid if he opened his mouth and while he usually didn’t care that much around his friends, he still didn’t want to slip up right now.

“We don’t have practice today.” Reon said after most of them were done. “Do you guys want to go to the cinema after school? There is a new movie out that’s supposed to be really good.”

“I’m up for it.” Tendou said while Hayato nodded. Semi took a moment to think before he agreed. They all turned to Ushijima, who looked thoughtful.

“It would be fun.” Tendou prompted, smiling and leaning his elbows on the table. “And we haven’t been able to meet outside of study sessions since the sleepover.”

Finally, Wakatoshi nodded and Tendou internally fist-bumped, though he was sure his face betrayed that he was happy – according to Semi, he almost always looked happy around Ushijima and wasn’t that just a little embarrassing.

The rest of the school day passed quickly and they agreed to meet up at the cinema in two hours, which gave them enough time to go home and get everything they needed.

Tendou ended up coming a bit too early and was glad to see Ushijima arriving a few minutes later. They went inside and Wakatoshi accompanied him to pick out a few snacks.

“I never tried any of those.” Ushijima said, looking at the bag of colorful little drops Tendou picked up along with popcorn.

“Seriously? What kind of childhood did you have?” Tendou asked mock-offended while both of them paid for everything together and he ripped the bag straight open. “Here, try some.”

Ushijima held out his hand and the blocker shook some drops onto his palm. “My childhood was fine.”

“That’s good. I was a bit of an oddball back then. But then again, I didn’t really change much I guess.” Tendou took some of the drops himself, throwing them into his mouth. He watched Wakatoshi eat his without changing his expression. His friend was watching him intently though.

“You’re fine the way you are.” He simply said and Tendou felt a stupidly happy grin forming on his face before he could stop it.

“I know.” He said, offering the bag and shaking some more drops onto Wakatoshi’s hand when the ace held it up again. Then he chuckled. “But I had this really funny haircut back then.” He moved his hand along his forehead. “Straight-cut like this. I changed it after I started to play volleyball seriously; it just got in the way at some point.”

“Oh, are we sharing hair stories?” Reon said, suddenly appearing at their side. “I had a buzz-cut as a child.”

“I can imagine that, though you look like Benkei nowadays.” Tendou looked at his friend’s haircut pointedly before grinning at Semi, who was just behind Reon. “But your hair is the funniest. It grew out even more, didn’t it?”

“The black should be gone at some point.” Semi said with a shrug and Tendou almost mourned that fact.

“Where is Hayato?” Wakatoshi asked. “I thought I saw him with you when you came inside.”

“He’s already in line for the tickets. We actually came to fetch you guys. Let’s go, before the movie starts.” Reon nodded towards the counter and they quickly followed him.

After purchasing their tickets, they searched for the right room and sat down, before Semi and Hayato left again to buy something for themselves. Tendou sat besides Wakatoshi and it was so natural by now, that he didn’t even think about it. They somehow always ended up besides each other, even while warming up for practice.

Balancing the popcorn they bought between their seats, Tendou made sure he was comfortable, stretching his legs out as far as he could.

Their friends returned soon and afterwards the lights dimmed, while some advertisements played across the screen. Then the movie started and after the first few scenes, Tendou started to absentmindedly reach for the popcorn.

He startled to attention though when his hand brushed Ushijima’s, who was pulling back a little so the blocker could reach inside as well. The ace’s skin felt comfortably warm and Tendou was glad that it was dark all around them, so he didn’t have to worry about hiding his reaction.

Now, though, he was acutely aware of the ace’s presence besides him and if he placed his elbow on the armrest between them, leaning just a little to the side their arms would touch…oh why not, he thought. If Wakatoshi pulled away, he would stop doing it immediately.

When he did it though, lightly feeling Ushijima’s arm against his, the ace made no move to bring distance between them. He just glanced at Tendou for a second and moved his arm a little to grab some popcorn before settling back to his former position, their arms still touching.

Tendou was sure that his ears were red – they felt like they were, along with warmth tickling across his neck. And he suddenly couldn’t get Semi’s words out of his head.

Damn it all, he started to hope for something he hadn’t even considered possible before.

~*~

Tendou picked up a volleyball and got ready to practice his serve, when Semi stepped beside him and grumbled a little under his breath about Shirabu.

“That first year giving you trouble Eita?” Tendou asked, glancing to where Shirabu was practicing receives.

Semi looked back for a moment too. “He’s just a little rude, so I guess it could be worse.” The setter picked up a ball himself. “He’s good and he’s only getting better. He knows that and he starts making his own judgments while playing. It’s just sometimes difficult to make him listen properly.”

“Well, the Spring Tournaments are in less than three weeks, so it’s only natural that the first years get a bid edgy. Especially since they were moved to the second string, they’re itching to play.”

“I understand that.” Semi shrugged slightly. “He’s still rude though.”

“Aw, come on grumpy pants, let’s practice and get that pout out of your system.”

The setter gave him a deadpan look. “I’m not pouting.”

“But you’re close.” Tendou sang, skipping away with his ball when Semi heaved a suffering sigh.

For the next weeks, practice was as brutal as usual; and then the Spring Tournaments started. They won match after match, securing their spot to represent Miyagi once again. The team celebrated with a dinner after the last match and Tendou excitedly texted Kenji. He couldn’t wait to go to Tokyo and beat the team they had lost to last year. This year would be different.

That he planned to confess afterwards was something he pushed aside. No need to think about things that were still too far away to be worrying.

The days before the nationals started, all their thoughts and free time were swallowed up by studying – Tendou would never stop swearing that the teachers got more evil with every year. He really wasn’t looking forward to his third year, since he knew how much more studying was required then.

On the bus ride to Tokyo he snatched a place besides Reon, since he wasn’t up for the sort of excited jitters he got when he was so close to Wakatoshi. He still blamed Semi at every turn for giving him hope, even if he didn’t say it out loud.

In the end, he just slept the drive away, leaning against the window and waking up with a crick in his neck. A little woozy and sleepy, he left the bus when they reached the hotel, coming to stand beside his teammates. A few minutes later, he held the key to his hotel room, once again bunking with Ushijima. If that wasn’t a sign from above to get his shit together and deal with everything, he didn’t know what was.

Thankfully he could say that he had some practice in being around Wakatoshi, so he managed to sleep – even if he had a crazy dream about Ushijima’s shoes stalking his ass and the laces throwing volleyballs, it was all very confusing, really.

“Did you sleep well?” Wakatoshi asked him when they left their hotel room to get downstairs.

“Kind of, why?” Tendou really hoped he didn’t talk in his sleep. Or almost fell off the bed. He also could remember an incident when he had been in Middle School, where someone had told him he had lightly kicked the wall in his sleep during training camp.

“You looked tense before you woke up.”

“Oh yeah, I had a crazy dream about your shoes.” Tendou squinted slightly, still trying to get those images out of his head.

Ushijima looked puzzled for a moment. “My shoes?”

“Yeah. They can throw a mean volleyball by the way. And don’t even ask, I don’t know where that dream came from, it was all very weird.”

They walked down the stairs while Tendou told him about some of his other crazy dreams while growing up.

“I once dreamed about a talking turnip.” Ushijima unexpectedly said after Tendou had finished. “It told me to eat my shirt. And my homework.”

Tendou had to laugh before he could stop himself. “Why?” He asked while grinning. Wakatoshi looked faintly amused.

“I don’t know. But I had eaten a turnip before I went to bed.”

Tendou still grinned with amusement when they met up with the team and they left for their first match.

They got through the day well enough, with the coach only yelling a couple of times at them and with the two first years thrown into the fray twice. The underclassmen handled the situations well though and Tendou had to agree that they had a lot of potential. Kawanishi, who he had taken a little under his wing so to speak, did well with his blocking too.

Tendou actually felt a little proud of the stoic first year, cooing a bit about how fast he grew up.

“Please, Tendou-senpai, stop it.” Kawanishi said, looking faintly annoyed.

Hayato chuckled. “Give it up, when he’s in that mood, he’ll just continue to bug you.”

After a little more of light teasing, Tendou let Kawanishi get away after ruffling his hair and falling back to his spot besides Wakatoshi.

The rest of the evening passed quickly after that and Tendou took the time for a long, relaxing bath when the team was back in their respective rooms.

Leaving the bath a while later, he noticed that all lights were out and only the glow from the city lights gently illuminated the room. Ushijima looked asleep, blanket pulled up to his chin and face half buried in his pillow.

It was more adorable than a guy like Wakatoshi had any right to be and it certainly wasn’t good for Tendou’s heart.

“I never had a chance, did I?” Tendou asked himself before sighing. He jolted slightly, when his friend moved, opening his eyes to look at him.

“What are you talking about?” When the blocker didn’t respond, Ushijima sat up. “Tendou?”

Tendou opened his mouth and closed it, his brain blank except for one thing. Capitulating, he decided to just speak his mind.

“You know what, I’m just going to say it.” He started. Wakatoshi got serious and turned to face him properly, swinging his legs out of the bed. Talk volleyball, the most useful part of his brain supplied. “And I know this is going to come out of nowhere, but you’re like volleyball to me.” He paused. Okay, that didn’t sound like he had wanted it to. “Or not, since I don’t romantically like volleyball, but I seriously, romantically like you.”

Tendou held his breath, and watched as Wakatoshi’s surprise transformed into a small smile. A damn breathtaking, rare, I-punch-you-in-the-gut-because-you-fall-in-love-with-it smile. Somehow it seemed to convey what the ace didn’t say in this moment.

“Sweet gods.” Tendou mumbled, reaching out to take hold of Wakatoshi’s shoulder, slightly leaning over the other player. “I’m going to kiss you, if that’s okay.”

The smile barely widened. “Okay.” And before Tendou could move, he felt Ushijima’s hand cupping the back of his head, pulling him down and moving up at the same time.

Their lips met and a part of Tendou internally whooped, before he pressed in a little more, feeling Wakatoshi’s other hand coming up to touch his side, splaying against his shirt.

Tendou broke away first, staring at the ace. “How? Since when?”

“I think it started sometime at the beginning of this year. But I really got it when you tried to find someone to date.” Ushijima moved the fingers in Tendou’s nape slightly; brushing the hair and making the blocker relax into the touch.

Tendou stared at his friend before he laughed, letting his head fall against the ace’s shoulder. “God, we liked each other for so long. I fell for you last year, right here in Tokyo. I never thought you’d like me back. Why didn’t you say anything?”

He felt the small shrug Ushijima made. “It felt like I shouldn’t bring it up when it wouldn’t lead anywhere. I thought I would get used to it.”

Tendou almost snorted when he heard that, because he had thought practically the same thing and they were both idiots.

Straightening a little again, he met Wakatoshi’s gaze, before they both moved at the same time, meeting for another kiss. Tendou felt heat crawl across his neck and radiating from the spot where Ushijima’s other hand pressed against his side. He moved more into the kiss, feeling the ace matching him and pulling him close enough that he could feel the outline of Wakatoshi’s body against his own. The hand in his nape slid down to rest at the small of his back.

He felt strong shoulders move under his hands when they broke apart shortly afterwards. “I had so many questions.” Tendou mumbled. “But I think my brain fried a little just now.”

Ushijima was serious now, calmly looking at him. “What questions?”

“Like, do you want to date? Do you want anyone to know? How are thing going to be between us?” Tendou gestured slightly between them, their close proximity not allowing for bigger movements without smacking one of them in the face.

“I’d like to go out with you.” Wakatoshi’s voice was a little lower, sending a pleasant tingle down Tendou’s back – and really, why hadn’t he heard this tone of voice before? So unfair. “And I don’t care who knows.”

“Well, Semi, Reon and Hayato already know about my feelings for you. Along with my childhood friend I guess.” He shrugged. “I think they’d figure it out pretty quickly.”

A corner of Wakatoshi’s mouth lifted slightly. “I can see that. You aren’t subtle.”

“Pffft.” Tendou waved. “Please, I can be plenty subtle if I want to.” Then he turned serious again. “So you are okay with telling them?”

“Yes.”

And Tendou released a long breath, feeling his shoulders relax and he felt Wakatoshi pulling him in a little bit closer. He let his forehead fall against the top of Ushijima’s head before grinning. Something about the ace always made it easy to be honest. “I’m so ridiculously happy right now.”

He felt the hands at his sides tighten slightly for a moment. “Yeah, me too.”

Closing his eyes, Tendou just hoped that this wasn’t a hallucination induced by a too hot bath and he wondered if maybe there was something about Tokyo that was good for his love life.

~*~

When they walked down the stairs the next morning, arms and hands brushing while walking, Reon took one look at them and smiled, nudging Semi lightly.

The setter glanced at them and paused before sighing. “Finally.”

“What do you mean, finally?” Tendou tried to sound offended but knew that with the broad grin on his face, he was failing spectacularly. “Affairs of the heart aren’t easy.”

“Affairs of the heart?” Hayato asked, joining them before realization dawned on his face. “Oooh, you did it. And it went well. Congratulations, both of you!”

Wakatoshi respectfully inclined his head. “Thank you.”

Tendou barely stopped himself from unintentionally snickering. Ushijima just sounded so serious. At the same time though, he was too happy. God, the ace was his boyfriend and just alone the fact that it didn’t sound even a little bit weird to him showed how far gone he was.

“You’re going to be a beaming, grinning idiot for the rest of the day, won’t you?” Semi asked with fondness shining through his dry tone.

Reon shook his head while smiling. “More like, for the rest of the week. But let’s go, we have to meet up with the rest of the team.” His smile got something determined, almost turning into a smirk. “We have nationals to win.”

“Damn right.” Tendou nodded and followed his friends, feeling Wakatoshi’s hand briefly on his back.

Today was just going to be seriously awesome.

~*~

They lost in the semi-finals and somehow, it stung more than before. Maybe it was because victory had been so close. Tendou had thrown himself into the match with everything he had, fighting to the last point, never giving up, keeping his mind sharp and focused to the point where he didn’t even feel the sweat running down his chin.

The burn of tears was nothing unfamiliar to him; he experienced it often enough ever since he started to play volleyball as a child, but it had been a long while since he was this close to letting them fall.

The whole team was quiet when they left the court, though they held their heads high. Tendou pulled himself together, placing a hand on Kawanishi’s shoulder, watching the first year quickly wipe a hand over his eyes.

“It’s okay.” He said. “We’re going to kick their asses next year.”

“Yeah.” Kawanishi didn’t sound as emotional as he looked, but Tendou could see the younger boy taking in a deep breath, straightening and facing forward.

This was what made up the best, the ability to walk over defeat no matter how much it hurt, keeping their eyes on where they wanted to go.

Back at the hotel, they packed their bags and Tendou snuck in a quick kiss against Wakatoshi’s neck, the ace pulling him close for a moment, before they had to leave the room and meet up with the coaches to get on the bus.

The team was a bit livelier now, trading small jokes around even if it still was brittle around the edges. But they were walking forward and they knew they were only ever growing stronger. No one could stop them from moving on.

Tendou and his friends sat at the end of the bus and – like most of the time – Wakatoshi sat besides the blocker. They sat close enough that their shoulders and legs were touching and Tendou lightly tangled their fingers together.

Ushijima dozed off after a while, leaning against him and Tendou one-handedly fumbled his phone out of his pocket, glancing up to make sure the coaches were still sitting, before he wrote Kenji a message. His friend had gotten sick just shortly before they had come to Tokyo and they hadn’t been able to meet.

_Look at that, I got a boyfriend._ He discreetly made a photo of their hands together and sent it to Kenji. A couple of minutes later, he got an answer.

_Congratulations! I’m happy for you! And too excited about it than is good for my health right now. Never try to fist bump when your head feels like exploding._

Tendou lifted an eyebrow, feeling slightly concerned. _Go to sleep then and get well soon._

Will do. Have a safe trip home. Kenji wrote, and Tendou put his phone away again. He leaned back against his boyfriend and closed his eyes, ready to sleep the trip away.

Thanks to a jam on the highway, they were delayed a little and arrived at Shiratorizawa when it was already getting dark. The coaches sent them home with a few parting words, reminding them to rest and that they had no training tomorrow.

Tendou just wanted to get home, feeling sleepy and tired and stiff from the long drive. He said goodbye to his friends, walking part of the way with Ushijima.

Once he was back home, he greeted his parents and went into his room after telling them a bit about the tournament. He would unpack his bag tomorrow, he just felt too tired for it today. Undressing and putting on his pajamas, Tendou went to bed and fell asleep almost instantly.

The next day he went to school, suffered through physics with Hayato – their teacher really had it out a little for the libero – and when lunch time finally rolled around after history and English, Tendou sat down in front of Ushijima like usually, bumping their legs together under the table.

“What do you guys say about studying together again?” Hayato offered and sighed. “I want to get a good mark for the tests.”

“It’s fine with me.” Reon said with a smile.

“I have time too.” Semi added and Ushijima just nodded, keeping his legs pressed lightly against Tendou’s – who just couldn’t help but feel happy about that and he was sure the stupid smile was spreading on his face again.

“Count me in too.” The blocker said when his friends looked at him. They agreed on a date and time before changing the subject.

When school ended, Tendou looked forward to volleyball practice again.

The next couple of weeks passed like that, with them meeting up for studying in-between practice and the weekends. Once, shortly before the tests, Ushijima offered to study at his place, since no one would be home.

Tendou stayed over the first time that night, sleeping in the same bed as his boyfriend, who woke up to having an arm and a leg thrown over him, while Tendou looked like he was close to slipping off the bed in his sleep, taking the blanket along. They agreed to let Tendou sleep with his back against the wall the next time.

Exams rolled around and left some of them more than a little frazzled and stressed. Tendou, who felt too lazy to go home after the tests, just went home with Ushijima – who apparently was alone at home most of the time – and they tried their hand on something a little fancier than fried rice or fried tofu for dinner. They actually managed to make noodles with a sauce when they went for it.

Wakatoshi agreed to watch a drama with him and Tendou was comfortably leaning, half lying on his boyfriend on the couch, who took to running a hand through his hair for a little bit while they watched the newest episode.

At some point after the episode was over and when they made no move to get up, he started to doze off while Ushijima switched around on the channels. He was jostled awake again when it was dark.

“Let’s go to bed.” Wakatoshi said once Tendou opened his eyes.

“Alright.” Heaving himself up, the blocker followed Ushijima to his bedroom. The ace offered the bath to him first and he brushed his teeth with a spare toothbrush – that he declared his, the color of the thing fit his hair after all – and dressed into his sleeping wear before padding out of the bath again.

While Wakatoshi was getting ready for bed, Tendou already flopped down, scooting towards the wall and rolling himself up in the blankets – though no one was a worse blanket-burrito than Kawanishi, they all had seen that during training camp.

When the ace joined him, Tendou just threw one half of the blanket over his boyfriend and left an arm across his chest while he was at it. Ushijima though surprised him a little, when he turned to his side and Tendou ended with his face almost smushed against the other’s shoulder and chest.

They moved around a little bit, getting comfortable without poking the other or getting poked at and Tendou kept his arm thrown over Ushijima, though now it had slid to the other’s hip.

Wakatoshi leaned down a little, one hand sliding between the blocker’s shoulder blades as he kissed him. It was slow and long, none of them felt the need to take it further and when they broke the kiss again, they settled into the bed fully.

Smiling and hiding it against Wakatoshi’s neck, Tendou just took a deep breath and released it slowly, relaxing into his boyfriend and the mattress.

~*~

Summer was an incredibly hot and sweaty affair and Tendou stuck to the shades more than last year. When he slept over at Ushijima’s, he usually ended up with the blanket kicked off of him and his legs thrown across Wakatoshi’s, his back half pressed against the cool wall. How his boyfriend managed to sleep normally in the warmth even the night couldn’t quite shake, was beyond him.

Kenji came to visit him and his grandparents for two weeks and Tendou made sure his friends and childhood friend could get to know each other better. They lazed around at one of their homes, went to the cinema once and generally fooled around the neighborhood. When Kenji left again, it was with a promise to try and see each other again during winter break.

“I think next year, after we graduate, I want to make a trip to the beach with all of you.” Tendou said at the end of summer, lying on his back on the porch of Reon’s house and his outstretched feet gently pressed up against Wakatoshi’s leg.

“Sounds good to me.” Reon agreed. “Though I only will be able to go after the first two weeks once school is over, my parents said they wanted to plan a hiking trip.”

“As long as we won’t all be stuck in one dingy hotel room the whole time, it’s okay with me too.” Semi said and Hayato made an agreeing sound.

“I haven’t been at the beach before.” Ushijima spoke up, his hand lowering from his lap to rest loosely over Tendou’s ankle. “I want to go.”

“Great.” Grinning at his friends and boyfriend, Tendou put his hands behind his head, leaning back on them comfortably. He already knew where he wanted to take them.

The last days of summer passed quickly enough and the weather finally cooled when school started again.

“I wonder what first years we’ll have in the club.” Hayato said when they stood beside each other and looked for the classes they would be in. Tendou found his name in class two.

“Probably talented ones.” Tendou guessed and then shrugged. “But you’d have to ask the coaches and Wakatoshi I think. As the captain he always knows more than us mere first string players.”

Soon afterwards Reon joined them and when they saw Semi coming towards them, Tendou grinned.

“Stuff it.” Semi said, though his posture was relaxed and he said it more for the heck of it. “I like the black hair tips.”

“You look like a Pokémon.” Hayato grinned and Tendou made am agreeing sound.

“Adorable.” The blocker said while smiling innocently.

“Well, get used to it. I think I’ll keep my hair this way.” Their friend brushed his fingers through the strands above his ear.

They bantered back and forth a little until Ushijima joined them and they went to their classes. This time, the teachers held a speech about how important their future was and that studying for tests was even more important since this would be their last year of High School – as if life would go down the gutter if they miss-stepped once.

Tendou ignored most of what their homeroom teacher said and got through the first day of school as well as possible while looking forward to practice.

The coaches were just as strict as always and the first years about just as nervous as last year. Kawanishi still had his bored and partly expressionless face when greeting them and Shirabu looked a little more intense than before summer, his focus sharper.

“Why do you have the somewhat cute underclassman and I got the one that just does what he wants?” Semi sighed when they warmed up.

Tendou snickered. “What can I say; I know how to pick the adorable ones.”

“Please don’t refer to me as adorable.” Kawanishi deadpanned from beside them and got ready for practice.

At the end of the week, one of the first years – Goshiki Tsutomu – was transferred up to the second string players, practically declaring into Ushijima’s face that he would do his best to be the next ace. Wakatoshi just looked at him, nodded and wished him good luck.

Tendou grinned. “Look, how adorable: a baby ace.”

“Don’t be a jerk.” Reon said with a smile while Wakatoshi walked over to them. Tendou greeted his boyfriend with a smile of his own.

“Looks like you have your own first year that’s aspiring to take over your position.” The blocker said, giving Ushijima one of the water bottles.

“He has a lot to learn.” Wakatoshi said with a glance to Goshiki, who was intensely focusing on receiving.

Leaning their shoulders together for a moment, Tendou hummed his agreement. “Inter High will be interesting if he works his way up to actually playing on court. Though I have to say, I won’t retire afterwards. I’m going to the Spring Tournaments.”

Semi huffed slightly. “You won’t be the only one. I’m going to stick around till the end.”

“Me too.” Reon said, lightly tossing up a volleyball and catching it again. “What about you, Hayato?”

“That was the plan from the beginning. Right, Wakatoshi?”

The ace looked at them and smiled a little, his gaze telling more than his words ever could. They all would stay until the year was over.

Tendou could never ask for anything better and he looked forward to this whole year, despite the pressure from school. Then he paused.

“Wait, if we have a baby-duckling-ace, what does that make you Wakatoshi? The grand ace?”

“Like he’s ever been anything else.” Semi said, and their friends nodded. “That’s a title no one else can take.”

“I’m dating the grand ace.” Tendou said with a smile, though he kept his voice a little lower so that no one could accidentally overhear.

Hayato just snorted in amusement and Reon slightly shook his head while Semi took his comment in stride.

“Let’s get back to practice.” Wakatoshi said, putting down the water bottle.

“We should go to the convenience store after practice.” Reon suggested while they returned to the playing field.

“I want ice cream.” Tendou said and then quickly shut up when the coach sent them a narrow eyed look.

Focusing on practice again, he looked at Kawanishi, who stood on the other side of the net, Semi as his setter and Shirabu on Tendou’s side. His mind grew still and calm, latching onto his opponents and he took in a low breath, spreading his hands slightly and getting into position.

There was nothing he couldn’t do with these people and he knew it. They already were ready for the Inter High and not even Oikawa with his grudge could stop them.

**Author's Note:**

> Aaand here is my [Tumblr](http://sky-daybreak.tumblr.com/) for those who are interested or have questions =)  
> If one of you is interested in reading over the chapters for mistakes, feel free to contact me.


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